


Consequences of the 90's

by sweettears90



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, time travel can be a real b-word, what happens in the 90's did not stay in the 90's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:15:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26056330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweettears90/pseuds/sweettears90
Summary: AU where the team needed to abandon the Zephyr.Something went wrong in the jump, and the team was separated. Now Daniel and Daisy find themselves stuck in 1993 San Francisco.“Can you go get the consequence?” Daisy asked Daniel.Daniel chuckled slightly as he moved to the other room. As he went inside, Enoch had a better look in through the open door than Jemma did.“Oh,” he said quietly. “I see. This is indeed a dire consequence.”
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 41
Kudos: 247





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The idea of Daniel and Daisy being stranded away from their team has been bugging me so badly until I actually sat down and wrote this out. 
> 
> Why did we get a stupid episode about Deke and Mack, but the show couldn't even devote one episode to our new power-couple, Dousy? 
> 
> Anyway, this is just some silly fluff. I don't know why I put them in the 90's... In the end, they never actually interacted with important 90's things, so I don't think that it really matters much. 
> 
> I hope that you enjoy. I've finished writing the story, so all that's really left is for me to put it up. I will put up one chapter every week until I run out of chapters.

“We’re only going to have a brief window to jump,” Jemma said as they all gathered in the main entrance to the Zephyr. “The time-drive is becoming more and more unstable.”

  
“Jump in teams, in case something happens,” Mack said. 

  
“Has everybody got their emergency grab bags?” May said. There were quiet yeses from the team. 

  
However, Daniel noticed that rather than a bag, Daisy was carrying a huge case across her front. Whatever it was, it looked heavy. And the case looked like it had been hastily wrapped with cords so that Daisy could carry it on her back. 

  
Daniel knew that Jemma, Deke, and Enoch had equipment of their own, and that the three of them would be leaving as a team so that they could hopefully do something to rescue them from whatever time that they’d end up in. But he had no idea what Daisy could be carrying that could be so crucial. 

  
He could only hope that her having it wouldn’t impact them jumping together. He had been tasked to help take care of her as they jumped, since she was still so injured following Malick’s experimentation upon her. 

  
“Alright… Go! Go! Go!” 

  
As the time-drive stabilized for a brief second, everybody made a rush for the door.

  
As they took the plunge off from the plane, there was a huge jolt. And it didn’t exactly take a genius for either of them to realize that something like that couldn’t possibly be good.

  
“Oh my god, where are the others?” Daisy said. 

  
“Worry about them later,” Daniel said. They were both screaming over the rush of the wind. “Let’s land first.” 

  
He pulled the cord for his own chute, and they began to drift down to the ground.

  
That part went well, although they did end up falling a bit as they landed. Daniel’s false leg couldn’t support his own weight as well as Daisy’s plus whatever was in the big case she was carrying. They tumbled together into a heap, one end of the parachute half-draping over them and painting the world red. 

  
“Are you okay,” he said as he scrambled to get up off of her. One of the corners of her case dug painfully into his stomach, and he thinks that he banged his chin against the top of it.

  
“Better than I feared it would be,” she said. She pulled the case off from her and slid it to the side before she accepted his helping hand. Once up, she looked around. “I don’t see any of the others. Something must have happened. That jolt…”

  
Daniel shook his head slightly. “When do you think that we are?”

  
“No way of knowing for sure right now, I suppose. Not sitting in this wooded area.” 

  
She then knelt down by the case and started to pull the cords off from it. She flipped the latches, and Daniel blinked in surprise at what was inside of it. 

  
A human leg. 

  
And then he understood when he saw the wires sticking out from the top of it.

  
“Oh, is that a prosthetic?” 

  
“Yeah. For you. Obviously. Might make when-ever we are a hell of a lot easier. These things are super life-like; it’ll be like your original leg grew back.”

  
She helped him attack it, and he was glad that she was there. Because although the thought of having such a life-like prosthetic was appealing to him, he wouldn’t even know where to begin with all of those wires and connections. 

  
“How do you know so much about these prosthetics? Yo-Yo said that she’d only recently gotten her arms.”

  
“She’s not the only one on the team with a prosthetic,” Daisy said. There was a sharp jolt of electricity that ran up Daniel’s spine, and he winced. “Sorry. Before Coulson’s physical body died and we rebooted him as a robot, he’d lost his hand. And as you might imagine, he needed some help getting it attached from time to time. I think that we all got fairly good at it.” 

  
She sat back. “Okay, stand up and see how it feels. I might need to adjust some things…” 

  
Daniel stood carefully, using a tree as a support. The leg felt weird at first, since he’d become so used to the feel of his original prosthetic. He wiggled the robotic toes, and was surprised that they moved in response. What was even more surprising was that he could feel with the new foot. He could feel the sharp dig of the rocks under his feet, the coolness of the leaves, of the textures of the grass. 

  
He took a tentative step, and then a couple more for good measure. 

  
“Walk to that tree and back,” Daisy said. He did as she asked, and he only stumbled a little. When he came back, she did some more adjustments, and made him walk around some more. Finally, she seemed satisfied, and allowed him to put his shoe back on.   
Daisy packed up his old prosthetic in the case, and as she did, Daniel noticed that she also had the same kind of emergency bag that he did, only she’d just put hers in the case. Which made sense, all things considered. And Daniel was insanely grateful for his new prosthetic. 

  
“We need to pick up the parachute,” Daisy said after a moment. 

  
Daniel knew that it wouldn’t be good to leave that lying around. He wasn’t sure when it would have been made, but knew that leaving even just some fabric and string in whatever year that they were in would not be good. He ended up doing most of the work, because Daisy was looking worse the longer that they remained around. 

  
Her being in the healing pod had helped to speed up her healing process. But she hadn’t been in long enough to be fully healed. As it was, there were still deep scars on her wrists and neck that were bandaged, and he knew that she had more on her back that he couldn’t see. 

  
Once the parachute was folded up, Daisy managed to get it along with Daniel’s own bag into the case. Which would make things easier for them. 

  
“Which way do you think that we should go?” 

  
Daisy also looked around. “No clue. But we’re not going to figure anything out if we stay here.”

  
“Okay, I don’t want to assume anything, but you look like you’re about ready to pass out. Why don’t you put the case on, and then I’ll carry you?”

  
Daisy wordlessly agreed without any further comment. Which Daniel took to be a bad sign, because she normally at least put up some show of wanting to do things on her own. 

  
He helped her slide the case onto her back, and then he pulled her onto his own back. He was again grateful for the new prosthetic, because he wouldn’t have been able to make it far with Daisy in her current condition with the old one. 

  
“Look, I think that I see a road up ahead!” Daisy said after a while. Daniel hurried in the direction she was pointing, and they did come across a road. “Let’s look for a sign, and then we can figure out where to go from there.” 

  
Daniel picked a direction at random and began to walk. It wasn’t long until he came to a sign that said that San Francisco was a couple hundred miles away, but a smaller town was a lot closer. 

  
“How in the world did we end up back in California?” Daniel said with confusion. 

  
“No clue,” Daisy said with a shake of her head. “But let’s head to this town, so that we can rest and regroup.”

  
The road that they were on was quiet, but at least it was scenic. Plus, it wasn’t overly hot, when-ever they were, so it made things a bit more bearable.

  
Eventually, they heard a car approaching, and Daniel moved off to the side of the road. 

  
The little car zipped past them, something that looked sleek to Daniel, but he knew that Daisy would probably scoff over the entire thing. 

  
But then the car stopped a little past them. A lady leaned out the passenger’s side window. 

  
“You folks okay?”

  
“Oh, you know. Just peachy,” Daisy replied. “We love getting into car accidents.”

  
“I know that you don’t know us, but let us at least give you a lift to the nearest town,” the lady said. “It’s a few miles away. I’d hate to think that the two of you were walking all this way by yourselves.”

  
“Do you think that we can trust them?” Daniel whispered. “Aren’t the Chronicoms getting better about taking people’s personalities?”

  
“Yes, but the alternate is that these are just normal people who are worried about two strangers,” Daisy replied. “And I am so tired.”

  
“Can you quake?” Daniel said. 

  
Daisy was quiet, but he felt a slight tremor move through his entire body. “I can, but I don’t know how good that I’ll be in a fight right now if it comes to it. We’d better hope that they’re just humans.”

  
Daniel carried Daisy closer to the car. “Thank you for your offer. We’d greatly appreciate it if you could take us to the town.”

  
The lady hopped out of the car and started to move a few things around in the back to make room for them. “It’ll be a tight fit, but I think that the two of you can manage.” She hesitated and threw a small smile over her shoulder. “I’m Jenny, and this is my husband, Kevin.”

  
“Hi, I’m Elizabeth, and this is James,” Daisy said. Daniel was honestly impressed with her quick thinking. Those were two names that almost never seemed to go out of style, and would fit into any year that they might have landed. 

  
Daniel eased Daisy onto the ground, and she pulled the case off; there was no room, so it would have to sit across their laps. 

  
“Is that the only thing that survived the crash?” Kevin said.

  
“I’m afraid so,” Daisy said as she moved into the middle seat. “But it’s got enough in it, so I hope that we can get some good use out of the things inside.” She patted it fondly as Daniel shifted it so that he could sit. 

  
“You look pretty banged up, Liz. Should we try to find a hospital?”

  
“I’m fine,” Daisy said. Daniel could practically see her biting back an “I’ve had worse”. “I think that it’s a lot worse than it looks.”

  
“If you’re sure.”

  
“I am. Thank you for your concern, though.” Daisy’s eyes roved over the things that she was squished up against in the back. “Oh, is this the-?” She spewed off some technology mumbo-jumbo that was lost on Daniel. 

  
“It is,” Kevin said. “I’m surprised that you know that. They didn’t make very many of them. Are you into computers?” The two of them started talking shop. 

  
“Oh no,” Jenny said with a chuckle once they got going. “I think that Kevie’s made a friend.” She half-turned in her seat to look at Daniel. “Oh, but you don’t seem overly interested in this kind of stuff. Me neither. I always just lose interest. But computers are Kevin’s bread and butter. We’re moving out here from Nebraska because Kevin heard that California is the computer place to be right now.”

  
Daniel could only just nod along. He had no idea about any of that. He was certain that Daisy must now have a clue as to the general time period that they were in, but he was completely clueless. 

  
“Ah, well, what can you do, though? I think that I’m going to try and find a teaching job,” Jenny went on. “And you? What do the two of you do?”

  
“Oh, er, I worked for the government. Coming out here for a bit of a fresh start, I think. Lived out in California for a while a few years back.”

  
“Ah. And how long have you and Liz known one another?”

  
“It seems like decades,” Daniel said truthfully. “But we haven’t been married all that long.” About five second, if he was being truthful. Daniel wasn’t sure about how people in the future might view propriety, but it just made sense for them to pretend to be married, rather than to try and pass off as siblings, when they didn’t look remotely alike. Or somehow worse: as father and daughter. 

  
“That’s sweet. Kevie and I haven’t been married long, either. But we met a few years ago in college, and instantly hit it off.”

* * *

“I would love it if you would convince Jimmy here to move out to San Fran with us,” Kevin said once they’d stopped in the town. “I haven’t seen you in action, Liz, but you talk like you know computers better than any man that I’ve ever worked with. I’d love to have you on as a partner for my shop.”

  
“Let me… er… talk it over with James,” Daisy said quietly. “I’ll give you an answer in a few minutes, okay?” 

  
She grabbed Daniel’s arm and led him a little away from the car. “I don’t care if we actually stay with them and work at their shop,” Daisy whispered quickly. “But we could really use Kevin’s access to technology to make ourselves documents. We won’t be able to do anything without proper identification in this time.”

  
“When are we anyway?”

  
“As best I can figure out, the early 90’s.” She shrugged. “It’s not all bad. They have some decent technology. And I could get a legitimate job working with computers like Kevin seems keen about.” 

  
Daniel nodded slightly. “If you say that this is what we need to do, then I trust you, Daisy.” 

  
She beamed at him before she turned back to Kevin. “I think that we’re going to accept your offer. James says that there’ll be more job offers for him in San Francisco anyway.” 

  
“I promise that you won’t regret this, Liz. This is going to be big for us.”

* * *

The apartment that Jenny and Kevin had rented in San Diego left a lot to be desired. “I keep forgetting that this is the 90’s,” Daisy whispered to Daniel when they walked inside. “There’s usually pictures attached, and you can do a video tour when I come from.”

  
Daniel raised an eyebrow at her. “That does sound useful,” he said. “Better than having a real estate agent lying to you over the phone, and walking into…”

  
“It’s not… that bad,” Jenny said as she took in the peeling wallpaper. “I think it just needs some…”

  
“Oh my god, was that a rat?” Daisy said as she quickly backpedaled into Daniel. 

  
“You’ve taken down time robots, but you’re scared of a rodent?” Daniel whispered in her ear. 

  
She glared at him. “S-Shut up. It was a big rat, okay?”

  
“I will admit that the realtor kind of… undersold us on how bad that this place would be,” Kevin said after he’d finished looking around. “But the way I see it, it’s temporary. Once the shop takes off, then we can get out from under… all of this.”

  
“Plus, I’m sure that Lizzy and Jimmy want to get their own place, too,” Jenny said. “Are you sure that you don’t want to go to the hospital, Liz? You look pale?”

  
“I’m fine,” she said quietly. “I think that I just need to rest.”

  
Jenny nodded slightly. “Okay. Let me make up this bed for you. Let’s see… where did we put those spare sheets?”

  
“It’s fine,” Daisy said as she went into the second bedroom. There was a small twin bed, which Jenny and Kevin had loved because it only encouraged them to start a family. But the mattress was bare, and there wasn’t even a pillow on the bed. She sat down, and then curled up on the bare mattress. Her breathing had evened out in a sign of sleep within seconds. 

  
“This probably isn’t the most ideal living situation,” Jenny said to Daniel. “I don’t know how the two of you will comfortably sleep on that.”

  
“I wasn’t going to sleep on it,” Daniel said. He then had to back-track. “I mean, not when Da-Liz is in that kind of condition. I don’t want to hurt her further.”

  
“Oh. You’re right. I hadn’t really thought of it like that. I’ll make up the couch for you, then.” She dug through some of the boxes that they’d brought upstairs from the car, and pulled out a blanket, which she pressed into Daniel’s arms. “Here, go put that over Liz so that she won’t get cold.” 

* * *

“Oh good,” Kevin said with a heavy sigh. “I was worried that the shop space that I’d rented would be in as bad of a shape as the apartment.”

  
“No, it looks nice,” Daisy said. “But then again, maybe commercial space has different standards out here.”

  
“You’re probably right.” Kevin looked around. “Okay, so here’s what I’m thinking… We put the front desk up here, and maybe a couple of chairs for people to sit in. And then we partition off this entire area for a quiet work-space.”

  
Daisy nodded slightly. “That sounds good. When did you say that the rest of your stuff was coming in?”

  
“Unless the truck got waylaid, it should be here later this afternoon. I know that you said that you and Jimmy had some errands to run in town, so why don’t you go look around for a little bit?”

  
Daisy nodded again. “Well, we’ll be going then. We’ll either swing by the shop to help you get set up, or we’ll see you back at the apartment.” She and Daniel turned and left the shop. 

  
“How are you doing?” Daniel said once they were out on the street. It was the first moment that they’d had to themselves that morning. 

  
She hesitated for a moment. “Better. I think that finally being able to get a full night’s sleep without the stress of the Zephyr really helped.” She held out her hands in a gesture of surrender. “I’ll continue to take it easy. I promise. I don’t know when or where the Chronicoms will show back up again, and we can’t afford to let our guard down too much here.”

  
Daniel nodded. “Yes, I know. And I also understand that we shouldn’t just sit around and do nothing until the others show up. We don’t know when that’ll be. And that’s why you needed to accept Kevin’s offer, because he could reasonably have access to the equipment you need to forge fake identities.”

  
“Thankfully, security measures weren’t amazing in 1993, and I think that I can make us things that could be passable assuming that you don’t apply for a government job or anything that needs security clearance.”

  
Daniel patted her shoulder. “I trust in your ability to make us convincing enough papers to get by,” he said. “What do you need me to do?”

  
She shook her head. “Nothing for now, but I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, we need to pick up some new clothes. So let’s find a thrift shop or something nearby. I don’t want to spend too much money right now. I think that we’re just lucky that Jenny and Kevin are being so nice to us. To let us stay rent-free until we can get onto our feet.”

  
“Because they feel sorry for us, Daisy.” 

  
She gave him a dry look. “You think that I don’t know that? You think that I don’t feel guilty over lying to those poor people, who are suffering enough as it is?” She turned and continued to walk. “Let’s just hope that Kevin has the printing tools that I’ll need, so that you can get a job and we can get out of their hair. It wouldn’t due to drag them into our mess with the Chronicoms, too.”

  
Daniel trailed after her, uncertain of what to say or do. He was out of his depths here. If she had asked him to shoot or punch something, then at least he would know how to handle the situation. But to lie low in a decade some 40 years after his own time? It seemed damn near impossible. 

  
As they walked, they passed two people who were clearly men simply because they had 5 o’clock shadows and adams apples, but they were wearing sparkly, sequined dresses. 

  
“Isn’t it a bit early for cocktail dresses, ladies?” Daisy called out to them. 

  
“Darling, it’s never too early to look this good,” one of them said in a deep voice. The two of them sashayed away, while Daisy continued along in the opposite direction. 

  
Daniel was left staring after them. “What,” he finally said as he turned to catch up with Daisy. 

  
“Oh. Right. We’re in San Francisco at the height of a gay movement. Just… er… Don’t have unprotected sex with anybody. Because there’s a sexually transmitted disease called AIDS. And not even in my time does it have a cure.”

  
“Uh… wasn’t going to have sex with them, but…?” Daniel trailed off, not quite sure where to even begin with that. 

  
Daisy burst out laughing. “I’m just messing with you. A little. I know that this is probably a lot to take in, but let’s try to swing by the library soon so that you can catch up on at least local history by reading newspapers. Actually, I could probably do with some of that myself, just so that I don’t make a fool out of myself by mentioning somebody who isn’t even president…” 

  
“Hey,” Daniel said. He pulled on Daisy’s arm, and motioned towards a store across the street. A sign announced that it was “Second-Hand Shirts and Things”. 

  
“Perfect,” Daisy said. They waited until the trolley had gone past before they crossed, and went inside. 

* * *

“Are you coming, Liz?”

  
“Just a…” Daisy didn’t lift her attention from the computer she sat in front of. “I actually want to keep working on this. It’s going to keep me up all night if I don’t, you know?”

  
“Right. Okay.” Kevin’s eyes darted over to Daniel, who sat near her. “Well, at least Daniel will be here, in case of trouble. Don’t stay up too late, though. We’ll see about saving both of you some left-overs.” 

  
“Thanks,” Daniel said. They heard the bell above the shop door tinkle as Kevin left. 

  
Daisy continued to type at the computer for a moment longer before she pressed the enter key dramatically. “Nothing quite like creating a program in order to baffle your employer with a looping virus.” She rolled her eyes. 

  
“Wait, so you created a program to make the computer do all of…” He wiggled his fingers.

  
“I actually fixed it within five minutes of the guy handing the computer over,” Daisy said with a huff. “But I was just looking for some excuse to stay late.” She shut the computer down and reached for her bag. She pulled out Jenny’s camera, the one that could print out the photos almost instantly. Daniel loved that camera, and apparently, so did Daisy, because she was always taking pictures with it. 

  
Daisy looked around before she pulled down a couple of cheap posters she’d picked up to spruce up the work-space. She motioned Daniel over, and had him stand facing her. She snapped his photo, and then set the film down on her desk to let it finish printing. 

  
“Now you take my photo,” Daisy said. Daniel did as she asked. By the time he had finished with that, Daniel’s photo was starting to come into focus. 

  
Daisy sat down at one of the work-station computers she’d set up, and started typing away. “It’s going to take a while. Why don’t you go get us some dinner while we wait?”

  
Eager to have even the simplest of tasks, Daniel set out. 

* * *

Daisy waved a sheet of paper in front of him. Daniel took it, and realized that it was a fairly official looking document. Upon further investigation, he realized that it was a certificate of live birth, for one James Daniel Carter. It was a name that he’d agreed to when Daisy had asked. 

  
“I want to honor Peggy, even if we have to borrow her name for a little bit. She would understand, being a spy all all that.”

  
They couldn’t use Sousa’s name, or even Daisy’s. Because the Chronicoms would be looking for both of them, including any aliases that they had both been known to use. But James Carter? He didn’t exist. Daniel chuckled a little over his new parents names: Howard and May. One live birth to a 7 pound 5 ounce baby boy on February 12, 1953. Which would put James Carter at the same age as Daniel if he’d been 40 in 1993. 

  
“Can I see yours?” Daniel said. Daisy passed the other one over as well.

  
One Elizabeth Daisy Smith, born to Anthony and Margaret on April 18, 1965. 

  
Daniel looked again at the birth year listed on Elizabeth’s birth certificate, and then did the math. “Wait a second, you’re 28?”

  
“Uh… How old did you think that I was?”

  
“Like in your mid-30’s, at least.”

  
“I’m flattered, but no,” she said with a chuckle. She took back both birth certificates and put them in a folder, before presenting him with one other document: a marriage certificate. 

  
“Well then, Mrs. Carter,” Daniel said with a smirk. “What kind of ceremony did we have in New York county?”

  
“Just a civil ceremony, at the courthouse. Sorry to disappoint you if you were expecting a huge affair. I think that we were both a little too busy to do otherwise.” She put their fake marriage certificate back into the folder, and then passed Daniel a New York driver’s license. “Granted, none of these papers are recorded anywhere, seeing as how I just made them up just now. But they, along with your license, should be more than enough to get a job. Assuming that you don’t have to do a background check or anything.”

  
“Jenny says that she thinks that she’s found me a couple of options, if I’m interested. I’m not quite sure how qualified that I would be for anything in 1993, but I’m willing to at least interview.”

  
Daisy put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, look at me. Fake it until you make it. So what if you don’t have qualifications for the job? Say that you’re a people pleaser who likes to see results. Potential employers eat that kind of shit up.” 

  
She shuffled around for a moment as she packed up. “Anyway, I’m beat. What time is it?”

  
Daniel glanced at his watch and winced. “So late that we might as well stay at the shop.”

  
“Oof. Well, I’m going to beg off coming back in until later. In the meantime, you should try to schedule some interviews, now that you’ve got papers.”


	2. Chapter 2

“I don’t know if I should be excited that you guys are finally moving out, or sad that I won’t get to see you anymore,” Jenny said.

  
Daisy paused briefly. “Excited,” she finally said. “I want my personal space. And I know James does, too.”

  
“Ooh, Lizzy!” Jenny pulled the other girl into a hug. “I’m going to miss you!”

  
“You do realize that we’re only moving a couple of blocks away, right? And it’s not like I’m going to be quitting my job at the shop, either.” Not when business was booming, and it was Daisy’s only skill outside of SHIELD work. 

  
But then Daisy broke into a grin. “I’m going to miss you, too, Jen. You’ve been such a good friend to me since we got here.” Jenny was in no way a replacement for Jemma, but she was a good second when the British scientist wasn’t around. 

  
“Don’t be strangers, okay? We’ll have to have dinner at your new place once you guys get settled in.”

  
“Okay okay, that’s enough of that,” Kevin said. He pulled his wife back from Daisy. “Now get out of here. Jenny’s goodbyes could probably last upwards of three hours.”

  
Without another word, Daisy and Daniel slipped outside. They still didn’t have much by way of personal belongings, preferring to pool the rest of their money into renting an apartment. The apartment Jenny and Kevin had might have been good for a young couple looking to start a family, but it was not intended to house four adults. 

  
Their new apartment was just around the corner, but it was in a slightly rougher area than where Kevin and Jenny lived, so there was a trade-off between that and the cheap rent. But both Daisy and Daniel felt confident that they could handle whatever riff-raff tried to mug them… and confident that no muggers around here would dare go to the police. 

  
There wasn’t much in their new apartment. A wobbly table, a sofa that had seen better days, and a stained, bare mattress on a worn bed frame. There was a second bedroom, but it was completely empty. The bathroom didn’t have anything except the essentials. 

  
Daisy took one look at the bed, and then sneered at Daniel. “I’m still not going to sleep on that thing. Who knows what disease that I’ll pick up.”

  
“And I’m not quite sure that I trust that couch, either,” Daniel said. He dropped his bag on the ground, just inside the bedroom. “Guess we’ll be camping in the living room until we can get some mattresses.”

  
“It’ll be like a slumber party,” Daisy said dryly as she turned to him. “We can braid each other’s hair and tell each other secrets.”

  
Daniel snorted, and did little to hide his smile. “Either way, I’m glad that we don’t have to sneak around to talk about SHIELD stuff anymore.” He paused. “Not like there’s been a lot to talk about recently.”

  
Daisy sighed as she dropped her own bag next to Daniel’s. “I just wish that there was something more that we could be doing to help. I’ve always been working on something for SHIELD for years and years now. And to suddenly be forced to the sidelines— in 1993, no less— leaves me feeling…”

  
“Like you’re drowning?”

  
“I mean, sort of,” Daisy said. She looked to Daniel. “Is that what you’ve been feeling like? This is probably a lot harder on you than it is for me. I mean, at least I was alive right now. Sure, I’m soiling myself and don’t have any teeth, but I can deal with the 90’s.”

  
Daniel hesitated and looked down at his hands before he slowly started to speak. “It was a lot easier when I had a clear mission. I might not have understood much of what was going on when I was on the Zephyr, but there was always something to be done. At least I could hold a flashlight or pass somebody a screwdriver. But here? I’m reading a script to sell ladies… laxative milkshakes that are supposed to help them lose weight.”

  
“I’m sorry, Daniel. I know that the work sucks. I’ll be on the look-out for anything else that you could do. But without running background checks, I don’t think that a lot of places have job openings for World War Two vets who turned into spies.”

  
“I know that I’m a little out of my league here,” Daniel said with a heavy sigh. “But at least I get to come home to a beautiful wife.”

  
Daisy chuckled slightly. “Yeah, I’m sorry that I’m not exactly the picture of the Happy Homemaker. I think that all of that started to sour in the 60’s, and that it was left behind in the 80’s.”

  
“It’s quite alright, Daisy. I don’t know what I’d do if I came home and you had victory rolls and were pulling a roast out of the…” He looked around. Their apartment didn’t even have an oven. 

  
“Can you even cook a roast in the microwave?” Daisy said with a raised eyebrow. “That would be quite the experiment to find out.”

  
“Well, if I do come home and find you as the Happy Homemaker, I’m going to assume that you’ve been taken over by the Chromicons, and act accordingly.”

  
Daisy threw her head back and laughed. “Right. And if you start wanting to wear a baseball cap backwards and rap about your love for LA, I’ll know that you’ve been taken.” 

  
Daniel gave her an odd look. “I don’t know what any of that means, but I’ll take your word for it.” 

* * *

It was beyond easy for them to fall into a routine after they moved into an apartment together. Mornings were in an awkward rush to get a shower and also to have breakfast before leaving for work. Daniel’s work wasn’t too far with the city’s streetcar system, which was something that he was comfortable using, since it hadn’t changed all that much since his own time. Daisy herself would walk the few blocks over to the area where the shop was. 

  
As the months wore on, their little apartment began to feel more like a home, and less like they were squatting there. They bought mattresses so that they were able to stop sleeping on the floor in the living room. They bought kitchen supplies as they needed them (”We’ll get fat if we do nothing but eat Chinese food and pizza all the time.”). And after a while, they also began to accumulate the bric-a-brac that made a house feel more like a home. 

  
A picture of Daisy and Daniel at a beach bon-fire near Halloween. A picture of Daisy, Daniel, Jenny, and Kevin enjoying a quiet Thanksgiving. A lucky cat picked up cheap in China town. Some weird little tree thing that Daniel had found cheap that grew on the windowsill in the kitchen. 

  
But also things of higher value, like when Daisy brought in a TV that was only a little broken. She fixed it up, and then they were able to spend their evenings watching America’s Funniest Videos, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, and Deep Space Nine. 

  
As Christmas approached, they purchased a small tree and a couple of baubles so that the holidays would feel less glum for either of them. 

  
“You know, I was kind of thrown for a loop over how much Halloween has changed,” Daniel said as he hung ornaments. “But then Thanksgiving rolled around, and the foundations of it remain largely the same. I’m glad that Christmas still seems to be mostly the same, too. The other day, I saw an ad for Miracle on 34th Street.”

  
“Oh, it’s been ages since I’ve seen that movie. Did you happen to catch when it would air, and what channel?”

  
“No, sorry.”

  
“It’s okay. I can probably see if I can’t rent it from Blockbuster.” As usual whenever the video store was mentioned, she giggled hysterically. Daniel had long since given up trying to figure out what the joke was, despite Daisy attempting to explain Netflix to him. 

  
Daisy turned around and poked him in the chest. “But you, sir, have a lot of catching up on Christmas movies to do! I should rent a couple while I’m there.” She held up one of the Christmas baubles. “’”Fra-gee-lay!” It must be Italian’!”

  
Her grin quickly faded, and she looked down at the ornament. “I’m honestly just kind of depressed since this is the first holidays that I’ve spent away from everybody in a while. Missions and whatever personal stuff that we were working out might separate us from time to time, but we always knew that we could come back at any time.”

  
Daniel rubbed her elbow. “Hey, come on. It’s going to be okay. Maybe there’ll be a Christmas miracle and we’ll be rescued soon.”

  
Daisy nodded slightly, but then turned away and hung the ornament on the tree. “We keep telling ourselves that as if repeating it over and over will somehow make it come true. But if they were able to fix the time drive, they should have been able to jump to us straight away, right?”

  
“We don’t know when the others landed,” Daniel said. They’d had this conversation before. “Maybe Jemma, Deke, and Enoch landed in medieval times, and it’s a lot harder to get the things that they might need.”

  
That earned him a watery smile. “The thought of Deke trying to navigate in a world where indoor plumbing has yet to be invented is kind of funny.”

  
Not quite satisfied that this had sufficiently cheered Daisy enough, Daniel tried another approach. “Am I seriously that miserable of company that you’re this upset over spending Christmas with me?”

  
“Sorry,” Daisy said with a heavy sigh. “I don’t mean to be such a downer. At least I’m able to spend the holidays with somebody.” She grinned at him, the joy once again on her face. “If I’m going to be stuck in the 90’s, you’re the best fake husband a girl could ever hope for.”

  
Somebody knocked on the door just as Daisy was adjusting the little angel that they’d gotten for a tree topper. They exchanged a look. “Are you expecting anybody?” Daisy said. 

  
“Nope.” 

  
Daniel went to answer it, and was surprised to see Jenny all bundled up, despite the fact that it was barely 70 degrees Fahrenheit outside. “Guys!” she said with a huge smile on her face. “A bunch of us from my school are getting together to ice skate. I thought that it would be fun if you could join us.”

  
“I don’t know…” Daniel said slowly. He was getting used to his new life-like prosthetic, enough to the point where he would sometimes join Daisy on a jog in the mornings when she didn’t have to be in the shop. But running was a far cry from sliding across an insanely slick surface on a tiny blade attached to the bottom of his shoe. 

  
“You know, I’ve never been ice-skating before,” Daisy said.

  
“What? Never? Come on, Lizzy. You need to come with us! You too, Jimmy.” 

  
“Yes, come on,” Daisy said. “I’m willing to give it a try.” She side-eyed Daniel. “You don’t have to skate if you don’t want. You can just get a hot chocolate or a snack and watch us skate.”

  
“Fine,” Daniel said with a heavy sigh once he realized that Daisy was going to go, regardless. 

“Ooh, you guys!” Jenny said as she looked around her friends. “Is that your tree? It looks great!”

  
“Thanks,” Daisy said. She looped her arm through Daniel’s. “It’s our first Christmas as a married couple.”

  
“Aw, how sweet. It’s our second Christmas as a married couple. Although this one is way less stressful because we aren’t fighting about if we’re going to spend the day with his family or mine.” She rolled her eyes. “Both of our families wanted us to fly back out for the holidays, but we just can’t afford it right now.” She leaned in close to them. “Although between you and me, we honestly don’t want to. Maybe in a year or two, when we’ve got a baby and can pacify our parents!” She chuckled slightly. “But it’s going to be a while before that happens, I think. We both want to be more financially secure here in San Fran before we start thinking about getting pregnant.”

  
“Things are going well in the shop,” Daisy said. “So it’ll probably happen a lot sooner than you think.”

* * *

The indoor skate rink was busy, only just a few days before Christmas. With nearby schools also out for the holidays, there were also a lot of children running around as well. 

  
“Are you sure that we can’t convince you to join us on the ice, Jimmy?” Jenny said as she and Daisy laced up their rented skates. 

  
“I think that I’ll just sit here and watch,” Daniel said. 

  
“Well don’t blame us when we’re having a good time, and all you’ve got is a frozen ass!” Daisy teased. She stepped out onto the ice and it was only by clinging tightly to the wall that she didn’t immediately fall.

  
Daniel bit back a laugh, and Daisy glared at him. “I think I’m good,” he said. “Might even get one of those chocolate croissants.”

  
“Here, let me help you get the hang of it,” Jenny said as she moved out onto the ice as well. She gently pried Daisy’s fingers off from the wall, and the two of them slowly began to move away from the rink entrance. 

  
“Jenn-ayyy!” somebody called out as they zipped past them. “Who’s your friend?”

  
“Ah, this is Liz! She works with Kevie!”

  
“Nice to meet you!” The man swung around to face Daisy without breaking the flow of the others around them. “You single?”

  
“I’m married, sorry,” Daisy said with a grin. For once in her life, she was grateful that she had somebody at her back like Daniel. Creepers were bad, no matter what time that they were in. 

  
“Pity, really.”

  
“Honestly, Jeremy,” Jenny said with a scoff. Jeremy zipped around and zoomed off again. 

  
“Sorry about him,” Jenny said once Jeremy was gone. “He’s harmless, honestly. He teaches math, so how bad could he possibly be?”

  
“Eh, I could take him and I doubt that I would break a sweat,” Daisy said with a roll of her eyes. “But I think that I’d just let James give him a stern glare. I’m pretty sure that it would do the trick a lot faster.”

  
Jenny smirked a little. “You know, it’s funny. Because we hang out a lot, but I’ve never once seen you and Jimmy doing couple stuff.”

  
“What? We do couple stuff. Didn’t we go to the movies together-”

  
“No, I mean like you don’t hold each other’s hands or kiss.”

  
“We do that stuff,” Daisy lied as her cheeks heated up. “We’re just private people. James is kind of a strange breed, but I think that it’s what drew me to him in the first place.”

  
“How did the two of you meet, anyway?”

  
“It was uh… a work thing, you know? We both worked for this place that kind of sent us all over. We first met in New Mexico, but between you and me, I don’t think that he liked me much at first. And then we were kind of thrown together for this big collaboration project, you know? And we really had my back when the going got tough. We’ve been inseparable ever since.” 

  
“I think that it’s sweet,” Jenny said. “It almost sounds like something from some romance movie. How the two of you kept running into each other through your work, and he didn’t like you…”

  
Daisy shook her head and chuckled at her memory of the first time she met Daniel. Liz might have known James for a few years now, but for Daisy and Daniel, it had only been literally a couple of months earlier. 

  
“And you?” Daisy finally said. “How did you and Kevin meet?”

  
“We’ve known each other since school,” Jenny said. “And one day, we were kind of like ‘Maybe we should be together’? So we got married.” She laughed slightly. “In comparison to you and Jimmy, our story sounds so lame.”

  
“No, I think that it’s nice that the two of you were friends for a while,” Daisy said. “I think that people get so caught up with the idea of some grand romantic adventure that they forget that most of that stuff is just for Hollywood.”

  
“Maybe you’re right,” Jenny said with a sigh. “And look at that, we somehow made a lap around!”

  
“And I think that this ends my career as a figure skater,” Daisy said. Jenny helped her over to the exit, and over to the bench. Daniel wandered over with one of the chocolate croissants from the snack area and a cup of coffee. 

  
“I’m starting to think that James was right about not wanting to go out onto the ice,” Daisy said as she started to unlace her skates. 

  
“Ah, well, too bad,” Jenny said with a chuckle. “If you guys want to stick around, I think that we’re going to head off to some restaurant after.”

  
Daisy and Daniel exchanged a look. “Which restaurant?” Daisy finally said. “I could probably use this time to do a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping.”

  
“Hm, well, we were talking about that new Greek place that’s around the corner from here,” Jenny said. “Theresa said that they have good food.”

  
“Okay, so we’ll meet you there in like what? An hour?” Daisy said as she looked at the rink’s oversized clock above the skate rental window. 

  
“Sure, that sounds good,” Jenny said. “Kevie will be there, too.”

  
Daisy returned her skates, thankful that Daniel hadn’t been skating so that he could hold her boots instead of them needing to rent a locker. 

  
Once they were outside, Daisy turned to look at Daniel. “Do you have anything else you can do right now?”

  
“What, you don’t want me around?”

  
“It’s just that I’ve already gotten gifts for Kevin and Jen, but I haven’t found anything for you. After all, what am I supposed to get the man out of time? A watch just seems super lame.” She laughed at her own bad joke. 

  
“You don’t have to get me anything,” Daniel said quietly. “I know that this has been hard on you, and I don’t want to stress you out over the need to buy the perfect present.”

  
“Yes, but then I’ll feed bad,” Daisy said with a roll of her eyes. “Well, if on Christmas morning and there’s nothing for you to open under our tree, at least you can only blame yourself.”

  
“I’ll be fine,” Daniel said with a smirk. “Have fun shopping. I’ll see you at the restaurant?”

* * *

Daisy ended up running into the restaurant half an hour later than promised. “Sorry I’m late guys,” she said as she sank into the seat Daniel had saved for her at one of the tables. 

  
“No worries, you’re here now!” Jenny said with a smile. “So I take it by your bags that you were successful with your shopping?”

  
“Ah, yes,” Daisy said with a sigh. “I might have gotten a bit carried away. I saw something that reminded me of some friends that can’t be here right now. I don’t know when I’ll see them next, but I know that they’ll appreciate it when I do get the chance to see them.”

  
“You’re always so thoughtful and generous, Lizzy,” Jenny said with a grin. She then gestured for the waiter to bring Daisy a menu. The waiter handed it to Daisy, but as he went to leave, Jenny grabbed his sleeve and whispered something into the man’s ear. He nodded slightly and then zipped off. 

  
Everybody laughed and joked for a couple of hours. Since most of them were from the school where Jenny taught, they were just happy to finally be off for the semester. 

  
“Ah well, we’ve both got to be in the shop tomorrow,” Kevin finally said to Daisy. “Maybe we should call it a night?”

  
“Yeah,” Daisy said. She drained the last of her soda while Daniel signaled the waiter for the check. 

  
As Daniel and Kevin both paid their bills, Kevin shot Daisy a weird look. “As you’re probably well aware, but once Jenny gets started, it’s hard to get her to stop. We might be here for a while, even though we’ve already paid our bill. You guys should head off, though.”

  
“We’ll make our escape before we get sucked into another tedious conversation about testing,” Daisy said with a roll of her eyes. 

  
She and Daniel stood and made their way to the front entrance. However, as Daniel opened the door for Daisy, the host got their attention, and pointed up at the door frame. 

  
“That was not there when I came in!” Daisy protested as she wheeled around to face the host. 

  
The others laughed loudly over it, and Daisy turned to face them. “You! You asked them to hang it up!”

  
“Guilty as charged,” Jenny said with a shit-eating grin. “Maybe I saw the holidays as an excuse to see you two finally act like a couple.”

  
Daisy leaned up and pecked Daniel on the cheek. 

  
“Hey, come on now!” somebody else protested loudly. 

  
Daisy just gave them the finger and pulled Daniel out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, please leave kudos and/or a review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody left a review saying that they'd wished that Daisy had done more than to simply kiss Daniel's cheek under the mistletoe. I could only just laugh...

It was the middle of January, a little after ten AM. Daisy was wrist-deep in a computer that had seen much, much better days. She knew that she could probably salvage it, but wondered if the cost of replacement parts would be worth it to the owner or not.

She’d asked him to come back tomorrow morning to hear the diagnosis, and would let him decide then. In the meantime, she had to come up with an approximate price for him. 

  
The bell above the shop door jingled. “I’ll be right with you!” she called out. 

  
“Liz?”

  
Daisy instantly dropped what she was doing and hurried to the front of the shop. Daniel was there, his tie loosened, and he looked ragged. 

  
“Daniel, what happened? It’s 10 AM.”

  
Daniel didn’t immediately answer, his eyes going to the back office where Daisy and Kevin worked on the computers. 

  
“Kevin isn’t in right now,” Daisy said. “Come back. Talk to me. What happened?”

  
“The office was shut down. They told us not to come back.” Daniel shook his head. “I don’t fully understand what happened, but the others kept saying that it was a Ponzi Scheme. All I know is that I don’t think that I’m going to be getting my paycheck for what I’ve done this month.”

  
Daisy sighed heavily. “Jeez, we really know how to pick good jobs, don’t we?” 

  
Daniel sat down in Kevin’s empty work chair. “How were you supposed to remember something like this? Some two-bit nutrition drink company that was taken down when you were literally a baby.”

  
“I had honestly just hoped that this job would see us through until we could leave,” Daisy said with a heavy sigh. She then turned her attention to Daniel. “I’m sorry. This must be upsetting for you.”

  
He shrugged. “I was always thinking of it like an undercover mission, if we’re being honest. The idea that I was doing important spy work helped to see me through each day.” He trailed off and chuckled slightly. “Little did I know that the police could have actually used my help.” He sighed. “Too bad that I was just some entry-level flunkie who had only been there for a couple of months, though. I could have really helped make their case. Or felt useful, for once.”

  
“Well, consider this case closed for you then,” Daisy said. “We’ll just have to find you-”

  
The shop bell jingled again. “Okay, so I found the parts, but they were way more expensive than they had been last month,” Kevin said. 

  
Daisy and Daniel stood as Kevin came into the room. Kevin blinked with confusion over the sight of Daniel. “What are you doing here?”

  
“The entire company was suddenly shut down,” Daisy said. “It was apparently a giant Ponzi Scheme.”

  
“No,” Kevin said, his eyes wide. “I’m so sorry, James. That’s rough.”

  
Daniel shrugged. “It is what it is, I suppose. Nothing I could have done. I just need to find a new job.”

  
Kevin patted him on the shoulder. “Now that I’ve gotten more established in the city, I know a couple of people now. I think that I can find something for you, James. Can you leave me a copy of your resume? Oh, Liz, if you want, you can help James brush up his resume today.”

  
Daisy nodded, and gestured towards one of the working computers that they had. “Come on, let’s try to think of how we can spin this…” 

* * *

After brushing up Daniel’s resume a little bit, Kevin told them both to go home. Daniel didn’t need to be told twice, and was out the door before Daisy had even stood up from her desk chair. 

  
“He keeps saying that he’s fine, but I don’t think that he’s taking this well,” Daisy said quietly. 

  
“Go home,” Kevin said gently. “Take care of James. Do you think that you need to take some time off?”

  
“I don’t think that it’s a good idea now that James has lost his job,” Daisy said. She absently picked at a stray thread on the handle of her bag. 

  
“Ah, right. Well… uh… You can call if you guys need anything. You know that, right?”

  
Daisy offered him a wane smile. “Right. Thanks. I’d better go find him before he wanders off.” She left the shop then, and found Daniel pacing around on the sidewalk in front of it. 

  
“Hey,” she said as she stepped in front of him. “I know it’s early, but let’s go get some of those dumplings that you really like. And maybe some ice cream?”

  
He nodded slightly, and they set off for the neighborhood grocery store. “Hey Daisy?” She hummed with acknowledgment. “I’m sorry about everything. It’s just…”

  
“Hey, I get it, okay? Suddenly having the rug pulled out from under you isn’t fun. I get it.”

  
“I think that it’s a lot more than just losing my job all of a sudden. It’s being in 1955 one minute, learning that time travel exists the next… That everything that I’d been working towards was seemingly for naught. I was supposed to have died, and suddenly, I’m in the 1970’s? And now I’m stranded in the 1990’s with-” He broke off, and looked away from Daisy. 

  
“Hey, come on.” She stepped in front of him, and reached for his hands. “I know that this has been rough on you. You signed up for spy work, and spy work was spy work, regardless of if you’re in the 1950’s or the 1980’s. And I know that it’s awful being still after spending the better part of your life being told what to do, when to do it, and how it should be done. Daniel, I can’t even begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now, what with all of the time skips and everything.”

  
He shook his head. “I’m just glad that you’re here, Daisy. I’m not sure that I’d be able to get through this on my own.” 

  
She offered him a small smile. “You wouldn’t be alone, remember? You’d probably end up with Deke, and he’d annoy you until you somehow managed to overcome your own upbringing in the past and somehow invent a better way to time travel than what SHIELD’s best and brightest managed to come up with.”

  
Daniel chuckled slightly and gently squeezed Daisy’s hands. “Maybe that’s my problem. Maybe I’m just getting too comfortable here with you. Daisy? Will you teach me everything that you can about computers?”

  
She raised an eyebrow at him. “I can teach you everything that I can about computers up through 1994.”

  
“Right. Sorry. But still, even that would be a big help. I’ve been studying all that I can about history. But I want to do more than to recite passages from history books or quote pop culture that I missed.”

  
Daisy nodded firmly. “Your first lesson will start right now.” She reached for her bag, pulled out her wallet, and handed him the Blockbuster card. “Go rent a movie for tonight. I’m going to teach you the old-fashioned way of pirating movies.” She paused and did a sort of swaying motion with her head for a moment. “Old fashioned to me. New to you. Go! I’ll get dinner and ice cream and see you back at the apartment.”

* * *

Daisy leaned against Daniel to grab a bit more ice-cream from the carton. He pulled it away and glared at her. “You’re going to eat all of it,” he said. “I thought that you’d bought this to cheer me up?”

  
“I did! But I need cheering up too, you know?” 

  
“You could have gotten more.”

  
“This is the good stuff, but it’s expensive,” Daisy said with a pout. She dropped down and twisted under Daniel’s arm to grab the carton. “Hey, it’s mostly gone anyway.”

  
Daniel sighed heavily and dropped his spoon into the carton. “Maybe I should have asked you to pick up some scotch or something. Because then at least we’d be drunk.”

  
“I know that we’ve been feeling comfortable recently, but I’m still worried that the Chromicons are going to show up at any time,” Daisy said as she dug out the last little bit of ice-cream. “But, I’ll tell you what.” She licked off her spoon. “Once this is all over, we’ll all go out for drinks to celebrate. Okay? We’ll show you how we celebrate in the 21st century.” She winked at him, and he blushed and looked away.

  
Daisy turned her attention back to the carton and continued to scrape up the last little bits. She then held the spoon full of rocky road up to his lips. He gave her an amused look. 

  
“Don’t make me say it,” she said with a grin. 

  
“Say what?”

  
“Open up for the train! Choo-choo!”

  
Daniel grinned, grabbed Daisy’s wrist, and ate the final bite of the ice-cream. He didn’t release her wrist, however. When he swallowed, he then pulled Daisy’s face towards him and kissed her. 

  
They were distantly aware of the spoons and carton clattering to the floor, but neither paid much attention. Daisy returned his kiss with fervor, and practically moved to sit on his lap. 

  
“I don’t think that I would have made it very far in the future without you guiding me, Daisy,” he whispered against her lips. “I know that you keep warning not to get too comfortable, but I think that that’s the problem: with you, I think that I’m the most comfortable that I’ve been in a long time.”

  
Daisy smiled slightly. “See, that’s the thing about people, Danny boy.”

  
“What is?”

  
“We’re portable and movable. We can leave all of our things behind if we needed to run. But you know that I’d be right by your side.”

  
On the TV behind them, Joker laughed over something. “Do you care about this movie? The guy at the store recommended it, but… I’m having a hard time getting over the nipples on the suit.”

  
“I’ve seen it,” Daisy said. “We’ll let the tape run, and give it to Jenny and Kevin if they’re interested.” She stood and muted the TV. She then held her hand out to Daniel. “Your bed or mine?”

  
“Yours is bigger.” Daniel accepted her hand and stood, but he didn’t move to follow her to the bedroom. Daisy gave him a questioning look after a moment. 

  
“Hold up a minute, Daisy,” he said. “I… er… I don’t have… Ah…” He gave an anxious cough. “A baby would be really hard to pack up.”

  
Daisy raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m not disagreeing with you, but-” She broke off suddenly, her eyes wide. “Oh! Yeah. Haven’t you noticed that in the five months that we’ve been in the 90’s, I haven’t had a single period?”

  
Daniel’s cheeks flushed. “I didn’t want to assume anything.”

  
She shook her head. “I get what you’re saying, because it’s a little personal. But we’ve been living together. And pretending to be married. You’d think that it would come up sooner or later.” She shrugged. “I guess it’s now. Do you know what an IUD is?” 

  
When Daniel shook his head, she pressed on. “It’s this tiny thing doctors implant inside of a woman’s uterus. I’m… not quite sure how it works, but it does something that makes it hard for a fetus to start to develop. I think that they’re around now, but obviously not as good as in 2020. And the one Jemma gave me can last for a decade.”

  
“A decade?! That sounds a bit extreme. What if you change your mind and suddenly want kids?”

  
“I don’t really want any, so it’s not like it’s that big of a deal for me. But they’re supposed to be really easy to remove.”

  
Daniel hesitated. “Do I want to know how they put it in your uterus?”

  
She offered him a level gaze. “It’s literally IN my uterus, Daniel.”

  
He shook his head. “Right, no. I don’t want to know.”

  
Daisy closed the distance between them and kissed him again. “Having a baby now would be a god-damned disaster. Let’s ignore that for now, okay?”

  
Daniel nodded and allowed Daisy to lead him into her bedroom. 

  
Their rooms weren’t nearly half as decorated as the small common areas were, if only because people tended not to go into other people’s private spaces. But Daisy had strung up some fairy lights she’d gotten cheap, and had a few knick-knacks on top of the cheap dresser and night stand she had. There were clothes strewn about, as well a couple of half-dismantled computers. 

  
Daisy released his hand once they were inside, and walked across the room to shut the window blinds. The room was thrown into near darkness with the door closed. 

  
“Should I turn the lights on?”

  
Daniel hesitated for a moment. He already knew that the way people in the 90’s and even in 2020 treated sex was a lot different than people did in the 50’s. But up until this point, he hadn’t had much of a thought towards the entire thing. 

  
The fact that women just got implants that could stave off a pregnancy for an entire decade reminded Daniel again of how much things had changed. 

  
“Off,” Daniel said. Best take it one thing at a time, he supposed. 

  
Daisy gently pushed him to take a seat on the bed, and then climbed onto his lap. As she kissed him, she writhed her hips against him. And although it did feel insanely good, it reminded him a little too much of the time that some of his buddies from SHIELD dragged him to a strip joint and paid for a strip tease. It had been right after Peggy had dumped him. 

  
But this was way more intimate than at the strip club. The faint glow of a street light barely visible through the blinds. Daisy’s lips against his (a no-no at the club). The way she whispered that he could touch her, and then gently guided his hands first to her breasts, then to her ass. (Plus, the fact that none of his friends were egging him on, and that he actually wanted to kiss Daisy.) 

  
After a moment, Daisy paused and pulled her shirt off. “Alright old man, let’s see how you can handle a bra…”

  
“I don’t think that hooks have changed that much.” Daniel had seen her bras whenever it was his turn to do the laundry. He reached behind her and quickly unhooked her without too much fuss. 

  
“I’m impressed,” she said, and rewarded him with a kiss. She trailed her hands down his chest, and then pulled his own shirt off. He’d changed immediately upon getting back to the apartment; if he didn’t have to work at the call center anymore, then there was no need for him to sit around in a collared shirt and tie. (A part of him did miss how formal that people dressed, but he had to admit that maybe there was something to these more casual fashions of later years.) 

  
Daisy’s hands moved down his bare chest, and didn’t stop until she got to the waistband of his jeans. Since he was just relaxing at home, he hadn’t put on a belt, and Daisy easily undid the button and zipper. 

  
She then slipped off from his lap and onto the floor, where she began to caress him through his jeans. After a moment, she pulled out his cock, and continued to gently caress him. It had been a while since anybody had even expressed even a passing interest in Daniel, and he had to fight back the urge to instantly cum at the attention from Daisy. 

  
“I’m going to do something now,” Daisy said. 

  
“A future thing?”  
“Mm, no. A ‘me’ thing. But uh… It’s been a while since I’ve done it. And if it hurts even the slightest, I need you to tell me right away so that I don’t hurt you. Cause want to know what would be really embarrassing?”

  
“I’m guessing ER and my penis?” 

  
“Having to explain to an ER nurse why your penis is suddenly misshapen.” She laughed slightly, her breath hot against his dick. “Which… Yeah yeah. I get it. Total mood killer right now. But better to have you sign the waiver of understanding than to actually end up at the hospital. But I promise you that the guys that I’ve done this with in the past said that it was great.” 

  
Without further ado, she took his cock into her mouth. And that was something that Daniel could handle; he’d gotten blow-jobs before. 

  
But then a low-frequency vibration started to thrum through him via where Daisy was gripping the shaft of his dick. And although the thought of Daisy having done this with other guys before filled Daniel with a weird jealousy, he had to admit: they were right. This was pretty amazing. 

  
Except that maybe it was a little too amazing. Daniel didn’t want to cum and end the experience, but… It had been a while since anybody had done anything remotely sexual for him. 

  
“Daisy…” he panted as he threaded his fingers through her hair. “I’m going to cum…”

  
“Yes,” she whispered as she pulled away from him. The vibrations didn’t stop. “I want you to cum. Cum for me, baby.”

  
With her dirty-talk, Daniel fell apart. Daisy opened her mouth and accepted his cum on her tongue. He fell back onto the bed with a self-satisfied grunt, and she stopped quaking his cock. However, she then began to clean him up with her tongue. 

  
Once she was done, she stood and began to remove her pants. Daniel watched with hooded eyes, and he didn’t miss the way that she turned and slowly lowered her underwear, and then threw a smirk at him over her shoulder. Oh, she knew exactly what she was doing. And she somehow managed to do it even better than the stripper. (Context, he hazily decided. Context was probably an important factor here.)

  
Now fully naked, Daisy joined him on the bed. She drew lazy designs on his chest with the tip of her index finger. “So thoughts on my little side trick?” 

  
“It was amazing, Daisy. I… Is it selfish of me to ask for it again later?”

  
She smiled at him. “No, of course not. It’s just one of the many perks of being in a fake-turned-real relationship with me.” She leaned over and kissed him gently. “I just wanted to make you feel better following your shitty day.”

  
“Should I have told you that I’ve been feeling low earlier?”

  
“Well, I knew that you were having difficulties, but this was probably the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.”

  
Daniel cupped the back of her head and kissed her soundly for several minutes. “So what you’re saying is that whenever I’m having a bad day, you’ll give me blow-jobs?”

  
“Whoa there, Danny boy,” Daisy said with a smirk. “This isn’t just about you. What are you going to do for me whenever I’m having a bad day?”

  
“Maybe you have super powers, but it’s not that I’m without skills myself,” Daniel said with a matching smirk of his own.

  
He trailed his hand down Daisy’s stomach, to the tangle of curls between her legs, and then gently began to rub her clit.

  
“Oh, you are good, sir,” Daisy teased. “Almost as good as I can quake myself.”

  
“Well then, we’ll see about that…” Daniel said. He moved between her legs and gently began to lick at her clit while he inserted a finger inside of her. 

  
Daisy seemed to be at a loss for words then, and Daniel’s mouth was otherwise occupied. So the only sounds in the room were that of Daisy’s gentle gasps of pleasure. 

  
When she came, the entire room began to shake. 

  
“Oh shit,” Daisy said suddenly as she sat up. She pushed Daniel away from her. “Sorry! I forget that it happens sometimes. It’s been a while.”

  
“Then I suppose that we’re in the same boat with it being a while,” Daniel said softly. 

  
Daisy flopped back onto the bed and laughed slightly. “Probably a good thing that we’re in California; nobody would think too much about that little quake. But we’re going to have to be more careful about my orgasms.”

  
“What did you do in your own time? Did you just live in one of those high-tech earthquake-proof places?”

  
“I either just dealt with the sudden loss of control, or Jemma eventually came up with these tranquilizer things for me to take. Or SHIELD developed these rooms that would sort of turn-off inhuman powers. So, you know. Not a whole lot of options. Bring the room down or turn myself off.”

  
Daniel smiled down at her and gently brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “Is it bad of me to want to get back to your time so that you don’t have to hold yourself back in bed?”

  
“No, because it means that you’re thinking of me. And the orgasm that I intentionally cut off because I don’t want to draw attention to our location.”

  
He kissed her soundly then. “Daisy Johnson, I promise that when we return to your own timeline, that I will make up for all of the abrupt orgasms that you never got to fully experience here.” 

  
Daisy hummed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “That sounds like a good deal, Daniel Sousa. I’ll take you up on it.” She smirked at him. “But don’t worry about my needs. I know how to take care of myself and not bring down the entire country. It’s just when others are doing the work for me…” She kissed him. “But I like when you’re doing the work, Daniel. We can figure out a good compromise between us.”

  
She pushed him down onto the bed and straddled his lap. There was an awkward moment of adjustment, and then Daniel was inside of Daisy. 

  
Daisy moved against him like she knew perfectly well what she was doing, that she’d had plenty of experience. And Daniel thought that he’d be jealous over all of Daisy’s former lovers, but found it hard to care at that moment. She was here with him now, riding his dick. Not anybody else’s. 

  
After a few minutes of riding, Daisy leaned back and rested a hand on Daniel’s leg. With her other hand, she slowly began to rub at her clit. It was a wonderful sight, and something that Daniel could have never pictured even if he’d been told that he would end up in bed with Daisy. 

  
Daisy smirked down at him. “I’m going to quake myself now,” she said softly. “Try not to cum again too fast? It’s not fun when you cum too quickly.”

  
“Considering how fast that you made me cum a moment ago, I don’t think that I can make any promises.”

  
She chuckled and gently began to quake her own clit. The vibrations from her own body traveled through to Daniel’s cock, and he gave a low, appreciative groan. He probably wouldn’t cum quite as fast as he had earlier, but he probably wouldn’t last long at all with Daisy pleasuring herself like that.

  
“Daisy,” he panted. His fingers dug into her hips enough to bruise. He struggled to hold on, just for a moment longer. But the combination of being inside of her and the vibrations that she was causing were just too much. 

  
He came inside of her with a strangled gasp. 

  
She continued to ride him and tend to herself until she had another orgasm. This one lasted for a lot longer than the earlier one, and although the room shook, it seemed minimal. 

  
Daisy collapsed onto his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. Her entire body seemed to have gone completely and utterly limp, although Daniel could probably say the same thing about his own current state. 

  
“Shit, I needed that,” Daisy finally muttered. She chuckled slightly, and kissed his chin. “How are you?”

  
“I’m good. Amazing, actually.”

  
She laughed again. “Good. I’m glad that I’ve still got it.” She groaned slightly. “I know that we should get up and clean ourselves off, but just… Give…” Her breathing got slower, and after a moment, Daniel knew that she’d drifted off. 

  
Daniel was comfortable, even though Daisy was on top of him. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to sleep as well. 

* * *

It was late in the morning when Daisy woke up. She stretched, not caring how Daniel’s shirt rose up on her, or that the neckline dipped dangerously low over her chest. She smiled to herself at how sore that she was. In her mind, it was a lot better than being sore because of taking a beating. 

  
She rolled over, noting how Daniel’s side of the bed was cool, but that the sheets smelt like him, and also of their activities the night before. 

  
After they’d both dozed off, Daisy had woken up about half an hour later. She’d woken Daniel, and they took a shower together before getting back into bed. Although they’d both been overly tired from a stressful day, Daisy woke him up around one AM and they had sex again. 

  
Daisy eventually sat up, the need to pee being too strong. She got out of bed, grabbed a fresh pair of panties from her dresser, and left the room. 

  
Daniel was reading the paper at the kitchen table. There was a plate of toast crumbs and bacon grease in front of him, as well as a half-drunk cup of coffee. 

  
“Morning,” he said as she stepped out. 

  
Daisy held up a finger as she padded past him and to the bathroom. A moment later, she stepped out, and walked up behind Daniel and wrapped her arms around him from behind. 

  
“Hey you,” she whispered as she kissed the side of his neck. “I didn’t even hear you leave this morning. What time did you get up?”

  
“Around six, the same as always,” he said with an absent shrug. He turned his head and kissed her lips. “I have to admit, I loved the sight of you stepping out from the bedroom wearing only my shirt with bed-hair.” 

  
“Not like you’ve never seen me first thing in the morning before,” Daisy said with a roll of her eyes. “Is there any coffee left?”

  
“Most of a pot.”

  
Daisy walked over and poured herself some. 

  
“Hey, I was thinking… wasn’t yesterday our first kiss as husband and wife?” 

  
Daisy chuckled into her mug. “I suppose that it was, wasn’t it? We even consummated our marriage, too. Our ancestors would be pleased. Although, technically Daisy Johnson and Daniel Sousa are not married. Liz and James Carter are.”

  
Daniel walked up behind Daisy this time and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I would love to stay home with you today and have a repeat performance of everything that we did last night, and a whole lot more. But I need to focus on finding another job. And you need to go to the shop. We can’t have two unemployed people in this house!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed this, please be sure to leave kudos and/or a review!


	4. Chapter 4

It was the middle of March when Daisy and Daniel were awoken by the building shaking. Daniel looked over to Daisy, who had gone from a deep REM state to full consciousness with the thought that they were under attack. 

  
“Please tell me that you were sleep quaking,” Daniel said. He struggled to hide the fear in his voice. 

  
“It wasn’t me,” Daisy said. 

  
Both of them were out of the bed in a heartbeat. Daisy raced to her closet, while Daniel tore across the apartment to what was now the spare room. They met in the kitchen carrying their go-bags. Daisy was struggling to put her boots on, while Daniel had simply slipped on a pair of loafers. 

  
As they raced from the apartment, they passed people who were peeking out the door. 

  
“Everything alright, dears?” the old lady who lived a floor below them said. “Oh no, is this your first earthquake?”

  
“No, we’ve been in plenty,” Daisy said gently. “Go back inside, Mrs. Chen.”

  
“Something feels off about this,” Daniel said as they reached the first floor. There were a few people milling about outside, and the air was punctured by the sound of car alarms and distant sirens. “Is Malack just trying to draw us out?”

  
Daisy shook her head slightly. “We’ve been lazy, allowed ourselves to relax a little too much here. We should have been staying alert for Malack or the Chromicons to pop back up.”

  
They went out the back way, which opened onto an alley. The air back there was rank with the scent of multiple overflowing dumpsters and a couple of homeless squatters who claimed the area, but neither paid much attention to the smell. 

  
The night was insanely still following the quake. Daisy agreed with Daniel’s earlier assessment that something didn’t feel quite right. 

  
“I’ll meet you at the rendezvous point,” Daisy said as she turned to go. 

  
“Be safe,” Daniel muttered. He wasn’t certain if she heard him or not. 

  
Suddenly alone for the first time since leaving the 1950’s, Daniel cursed how lazy that he and Daisy had been. He’d been treating this like a romantic vacation since January. They should have been searching for any sign of Malack and the Chromicons. 

  
Well, the holiday was not over. Daniel would go around for a while on the opposite side of town as Daisy, and then they would meet up at the airport. From there, they would hop onto the next flight out, no matter where it was. With their passports, they could be halfway around the world in a couple of hours. 

  
Early on in their time in the 90’s, they had decided that survival was more important than to face Malack or the Chromicons just by themselves. Although Daisy had said that there were inhumans hiding out in the world in this time, she didn’t want to drag anybody else into a fight like that. Daniel didn’t blame her, and trusted her judgment on the issue. He also thought that survival was more important than standing to fight. 

  
So maybe they’d end up on some tropical island. (But it was probably just as likely that they’d end up catching a red-eye to Ohio.) 

  
The further Daniel got from the apartment, the more he began to realize that nobody was tailing him. Nobody had followed him from the apartment. Was it really just a regular earthquake? Or had they opted to go after Daisy instead? His worry began to mount, and he contemplated forgoing the plan— not like anybody was following him anyway— and heading straight for the airport. 

  
He knew that it wouldn’t help Daisy, and he had no idea where she was anyway. He popped into a sports bar that was still open, although the time for last call was probably quickly approaching. 

  
“Some earthquake, huh?” Daniel said to the bartender as he slid onto a seat. 

  
“People on the news saying that the epicenter was a few miles north of here,” the man said. “All of the international games were suddenly interrupted because of it. Sometimes, I really hate living in California.”

  
“I hear that,” Daniel said. “Woke me up, and my wife was too wound up to go back to sleep. Thought that I could slip out for a beer while she was trying to take a bath.” 

  
“It’s almost last call, but you’ll probably need to get back to the little misses anyway,” the bartender said as he slid a bottle across to Daniel. “There’s another news story about it now. Wow guys, it’s almost like we’ve never experienced one of these before.” The man rolled his eyes. 

  
“Turn it up?” Daniel said. The bartender obliged. 

  
The reporter was talking about the epicenter, which was some distance from their apartment. In the neighboring town, the one that the four of them had passed through when Daniel and Daisy had first landed in the 90’s. Was it Malack, suddenly picking up their trail? Or a Chromicon? Why now, after seven months? 

  
Daniel lingered over his beer for half an hour, watching the incoming news reports. He sipped at his beer without really drinking much of it at all. 

  
Finally, he waved to the bartender and left without another word. He wanted to rush straight to the airport, but needed to double around for a few more minutes just to make sure that he hadn’t picked up a tail while he was at the bar. 

  
It was another half an hour before he made it to the airport. 

  
There were a lot of different restaurants and cafes offering overpriced food for exhausted travelers. They hadn’t designated any place in particular, since they weren’t sure when they might need to use the location. Only just “We should get coffee”. 

  
So Daniel went in search of a place that served coffee, and found a place. He looked around the little sitting area before he noticed a woman wearing a baggy jacket and a baseball cap pulled low over her eyes. Her fingers were curled around her cup, and she looked ready to bolt. 

  
But as she scanned the room, her eyes met Daniel’s and she smiled. She nodded slightly towards the counter, so Daniel went over and ordered a black coffee. It would probably be good to wash away the last little traces of beer in his system, as minimal as it might be with how little he drank thirty minutes ago. 

  
As the barista handed him his coffee, Daniel turned. Daisy stood and began to make her way from the little cafe. Daniel followed her over to a quiet nook by the bathrooms. 

  
“The epicenter was near the town that we passed through when we first got here,” Daniel said. 

  
“Yeah, I know,” she said quietly. Her eyes were never still, always on the look-out for danger. “I was keeping my ear to the ground. Do you think that we should go?”

  
“I don’t think that it would hurt,” Daniel said. “Wait a few days to see what happens. This is California, after all. Maybe it was just a normal one?”

  
Daisy nodded slightly. “I’ll get us tickets, and you can go find a change of clothes.” 

  
Daniel agreed, and as Daisy moved to leave, he reached out and gently touched her hand. She half-turned to look at him, and offered him a faint smile. “It’s going to be okay.”

  
“Yes,” he agreed. 

* * *

Two hours later, they were on a flight to North Carolina. “You know, when we land, we really should try to get in touch with Kevin and Jenny,” Daisy said as the plane began to taxi. “They’ll be worried when I don’t show up at the shop tomorrow morning. They might even realize that we’re gone, and file police reports.”

  
“Yes, I don’t want anything to link back to us,” Daniel said. He gently squeezed her hand. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. If something really was after us back there, then they’ll be sure to pop up again soon.”

  
They were silent as the plane took off. “Hey, upside: this is my first time in an actual airplane.”

  
Daisy gave him a dry look. “The Zephyr is a plane.”

  
“It’s a weird future plane, and I’m pretty sure that only SHIELD has a plane like that,” Daniel said with matching dryness. “Although I honestly miss Zephyr.”

  
“Yeah, me too. Although, be thankful that we ended up in the 90’s, and not post 2001. Getting to the airport now is so much nicer. And getting onto a plane. Like they legit do not care before 2001.”

  
“Why, what happened?”

  
Daisy looked around, as if they hadn’t just been talking about info that shouldn’t land in anybody’s ear. “Let’s just say: two airplanes are introduced to two tall buildings in New York. Thousands of people died. It was a turning point in American history. A dark one.” She looked down at her hands. “I was nine when it happened. I remember that I was in school when the announcement came on. We were in the middle of math. At first, I was happy to get out of lessons. And then I think that the horror of what had happened really hit. It was awful.” She turned to look at Daniel. “Everybody remembers what they were doing.”

  
Daniel nodded slightly. “I remember what I was doing when I heard the news about Pearl Harbor.” 

  
She sighed heavily. “I’ll tell you more about it when we get back to 2020.” 

  
The captain made an announcement, and the fasten seatbelt sign went off. Daisy lifted the seat divider between the two of them, and snuggled into Daniel’s side. She yawned loudly, and Daniel wrapped an arm around her shoulders. 

  
“Should have bought a book while we were waiting,” Daisy murmured against his chest. “No headphones to watch the in-flight movie. No cell phone or laptop to help pass the time. Probably a good thing that we were woken up in the middle of the night. Now we can catch up on some sleep, I guess.”

  
Daniel kissed the top of her head. “Let’s both get some rest so that we can hit the ground running when we land.”

* * *

Daisy was jolted awake by the plane landing. It was the middle of the morning in North Carolina, and sun shone in through her window. She groaned with irritation and reached over to shut the blind, if only for a moment while they finished taxiing. 

  
Since they hadn’t checked any luggage, they just grabbed their bags and headed for a terminal that promised shuttles every fifteen minutes to a car rental place. They were just in time to catch the shuttle, and were jostled along with a couple other passengers the few miles to the building. 

  
“Do you think that you can go rent a car?” Daisy said. “It should just be pretty standard questions. Get whatever car seems right to you. I’m going to go call Jenny and try to spin this.”

  
Daniel nodded slightly, and moved to stand in the indicated line. 

  
Daisy meanwhile headed over to the payphones outside. She put in some coins and dialed the number that she’d forced herself to memorize. (Oh, how she yearned for the days of cellphones. She hadn’t needed to memorize a phone number in at least a decade.) 

  
The phone rang a couple of times before Jenny offered a weary “Hello?” Daisy winced when she realized that it would still be quite early in California. 

  
“Jen, it’s Liz.”

  
“Lizzy? What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

  
“No, not really,” Daisy said truthfully. “Listen, something’s come up. James and I needed to leave town for a little bit. I don’t know when we might get back.”

  
“Okay. Is there anything that you need me to do? Water your plants?”

  
“We don’t…” Daisy remembered the wilty plant on their kitchen windowsill; it wouldn’t have survived with them anyway, so might as well just let it go. “No, never mind. Actually, do you think that you could swing by the apartment every couple of days just to check that everything’s okay, and to pick up the mail?”

  
“Yes, of course. Call if you need anything else.”

  
“Jenny, I don’t know when I’ll be able to call next. But I’ll call you when we get the chance. I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more, but this is important.”

  
“Lizzy, are you in some kind of trouble? I know that we don’t have much, but if you need money-”

  
“God no! Jen, you’re so kind, but it’s not like that. Maybe someday, I’ll be able to tell you what this is about. But-” Daniel and an agent stepped out from the building. Daniel offered her an awkward wave. “Listen, I need to go now. I’ll call you when I can.” Daisy hung up the receiver and fished the change out from the slot before she turned and jogged over to where Daniel was. 

  
“That was fast,” Daisy said. 

  
“Not too much else to do today,” the agent said. “Alright, let’s get you folks situated in a car and get you out of here!” 

* * *

The roads stretched out before them as they endlessly passed signs boasting of restaurants, hotels, rest stops, and “now entering…”. They would only stop whenever the local maps they’d picked up indicated that they were coming to a cross roads. They were in no real hurry to get back to California until they were certain that nobody was going to be coming for them. 

  
Although, it was difficult to tell simply by hurried phone conversations on diner payphones with Jenny or Kevin. Neither of them were spies. And Daisy and Daniel were reluctant to drag the other couple into their own troubles. 

  
So they would flip a coin for every interstate exchange, and roll a dice every time they decided to stop for a quick shower and change of clothes. (Living in the rental car meant that things could get pretty ripe at times.)

  
Living in San Francisco, they’d tried to keep as much money as they could. They had only opened a bank account so that Daniel could deposit his checks every week. But they only kept the minimum amount in the account. The rest, they kept on hand for a situation where they needed to be on the road. 

  
In the time that they’d been there, they’d made quite a little nest egg for themselves. 

  
But being out on the road with zero income meant that they burned through it pretty quickly. 

  
“What should our next move be?” Daniel asked late one night. After getting cheap tacos, they probably had enough money for one more gas fill-up, and then they wouldn’t have anything. 

  
“Do you think that it’s safe to return to California now? Jen and Kevin say that they haven’t noticed anything odd around our apartment building. If Malick or anything else had come to find us, they would have been snooping around the apartment, around Kevin’s shop.”

  
“Maybe you’re right,” Daniel said with a heavy sigh. “Maybe it really was just a regular earthquake. We should return to California, pack up, and move some place that it’s prone to earthquakes.”

  
Daisy hummed with agreement, but didn’t say anything for a moment. “Let’s take it one step at a time, okay? We need to get back to California before we can think about leaving it.” 

  
She sat up in the seat and pointed to the diner that they were parked next to. It was closed for the night, and wedged in between two larger buildings. So it made for a perfect little hidey-hole for them to get some shut-eye for the night. “They had a help wanted sign in the window. That is the kind of place that would probably pay us in cash and wouldn’t ask questions when we wanted to leave in a week.”

  
Daniel offered her a sleepy grin. “So are you saying that we should work in order to earn our gas money back to California?”

  
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” She offered him a friendly slap. “You’ll fit right in the diner, Danny-boy. It’s a 50’s themed diner.”

* * *

So that’s how they spent their next couple of weeks. Working at a diner long enough to save up enough for gas so that they could get to the next little town on the other side of the state. A constant change of names. Never getting too chatty with their new co-workers, because they knew that they’d be leaving at the end of the week. (And begging the use of a shower from their co-workers so that they wouldn’t have to rent a motel room anymore.) 

  
It was not an easy way to live. Daniel, who was already 40 when he fell in with the Zephyr crew and had probably passed his birthday already, missed being able to sleep in a bed every night. And he knew that their weird, nomad lifestyle was wearing thin on Daisy, too. But neither of them complained, knowing that if Malick actually did show up, it would probably be like this for a long time to come. 

  
But he was still happy when they finally passed the sign that welcomed them to California. 

  
“I never thought that I’d be so happy to see California again,” he said with a sigh. 

  
“Don’t get too happy, because we’ve still got a ways to go before we’re back in San Fran,” Daisy said. 

  
“Yes, but the end of what’s probably my worst vacation ever is finally coming to a close.” 

* * *

Daniel had never been happier to see the little Queen Anne building where Jenny and Kevin lived. They’d coasted into the city on nothing but fumes and a desperate desire to sleep in their own beds that night. 

  
They knew that they couldn’t return the car in its current state, stinking of BO from two months worth of living out of it and old fast food. Plus, they needed money for gas as well. 

  
“Lizzy,” Jenny said as she opened the door. “Jimmy!” She simultaneously hugged both of them. “Ugh, you guys reek. When’s the last time that you took a shower?”

  
“It’s uh… been a while,” Daisy said as she and Daniel exchanged a look. It unnerved both of them how quickly that they’d gotten used to living with the scent of their unwashed bodied. 

  
“Listen, Jen, we’re really sorry for putting you through all of that. We were dealing with some things.”

  
“Well, hope that you dealt with them,” Jenny said sourly. Neither of them had the heart to tell her that this was likely far from over. “But I did miss you, so it’s hard for me to be angry with you guys. I’m sure that Kevin will be glad that you’re back though, Liz. He says that you have a knack for computers, unlike anything that he’s ever seen.”

  
Daisy nodded. “I’ll go see him first thing in the morning. In the meantime, we kind of have a rental car and no money.”

  
Jenny sighed heavily and reached for her purse. “Fine, but you guys really owe us big time. We even paid your rent when your landlord was going to put all of your stuff on the curb.”

  
“Thank you so much, Jenny,” Daisy said. “I know that it probably won’t happen right away, but we do promise to pay you back eventually.”

* * *

Their own apartment was sitting in the exact same way that they’d left it the night of the earthquake. The only difference was that somebody had put the dishes away, and the plant from the kitchen window was gone. 

  
Daisy sighed heavily as she dropped her bag onto the sofa. She and Daniel turned to one another. 

  
“We should stay,” she said. “We have a life here.”

  
“It’s funny, because I was about to say the same thing.” He grimaced. “Of course, you have a job to go back to. I’m going to have to find one again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know by leaving kudos and/or a review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You've all been patiently waiting for those consequences to show up. :)

It disturbed both Daniel and Daisy how quickly they slipped back into their lives in San Fransisco, 1994. They hadn’t even been there for a full year, but being on the road when they had thought that Malick had been after them, and then coming home… It really was like returning home following a vacation. 

  
Deep down, they knew that they shouldn’t feel so settled in the 90’s. Malick and the potential threat of the Chronicoms coming after them urged them to put up some more security measures in case something like that happened again. 

  
But they went out with Jenny and Kevin for dinner every Friday, had game nights with some of Jenny’s teacher friends once a month, and bought more knick-knacks for their apartment. 

  
It was two months after their impromptu road trip that Daniel awoke in the middle of the night to find Daisy gone, although her side of the bed was still warm. He quickly left the bed in case something had happened, and found her being violently ill over the toilet. 

  
There was little he could do except to hold her hair and rub her back until she stopped. He then gently cleaned her mouth up and got her a glass of water. 

  
“What happened, what’s wrong?” 

  
“I don’t know,” Daisy said. “I just woke up and barely made it here in time.”

  
“I told you that that leftover Chinese food was suspicious.”

  
“Yes, but I also don’t see you on your hands and knees here,” Daisy said. She sipped more water and spat it out in the sink to get the taste of bile from her mouth. 

  
“Maybe I’m made out of sterner stuff than you are.” He looked her up and down, not quite sure what else to say. “Do you want to brush your teeth?”

  
“No,” she said quietly. “I think that I might be sick again.”

  
“Okay. Do you want me to bring you something? Is there anything that I can do for you?”

  
“No,” she said with a sigh. “I’m sure that it’s just food poisoning. Once I get it out of my system, I’m sure that I’ll feel fine.” She tried to give him a stern look, but the effect was immensely dampened by the fact that she was pale, sweaty, and smelt like vomit and old Chinese food. “Go back to bed. You have work in the morning. There’s no reason for both of us to be sleep deprived. You might get sick, too.”

  
“Are you sure?”

  
“Go. There’s not much for you to do for me anyway.”

  
With one last look back at her, Daniel stood and left the bathroom. A few minutes later, he heard Daisy being sick again. He wanted to go to her, but he knew that she was right: it wouldn’t do if he was so exhausted that he got sick. 

  
He dozed for a while, and woke up to the sound of Daisy dry-heaving this time. Apparently, her stomach was empty now, but the rest of her body hadn’t gotten the message that it was time to stop being sick. 

* * *

When the alarm went off, Daniel wasn’t surprised to find Daisy’s side of the bed seemingly untouched from the night before. He was surprised, however, to find her asleep in the bathroom, her head pillowed on the edge of the shower-tub. 

  
“Hey, Daisy, time to wake up,” Daniel whispered as he crouched in front of her. 

  
She stirred slightly, her eyes fluttering as she woke up. “Daniel?” She took in what he was wearing. “Oh, is it morning already?”

  
“Yes. I take it that you’re not feeling better?”

  
“My stomach keeps wanting to crawl up my esophagus.”

  
“Let’s get you back into bed for now, okay? Maybe getting some actual rest will help you feel better.”

  
She nodded weakly, and allowed Daniel to scoop her up into her arms. He carried her to the bed, situated her under the blankets, and pushed the metal trash can closer to where she was in case she needed it. He then got a pitcher of water and a glass, and put it next to her bed. 

  
“I know that you feel awful, but try to stay hydrated,” he said as he gently pushed back hair from her forehead. It had become glued on with her sweat. 

  
She nodded slightly, clearly too exhausted for proper communication at this point. He was pretty sure that she was snoring by the time he crossed to the door. 

  
He picked up the phone in the kitchen and dialed Kevin’s and Jenny’s apartment. “It’s James.”

  
“Oh no. Don’t tell me that you guys have another emergency,” Kevin said with a frustrated sigh. 

  
“Well, sort of. Liz is sick. She spent the night in the bathroom, mostly dry heaving.”

  
“Oh no.” This time, Kevin’s sigh seemed to be out of concern for Daisy, rather than frustration over losing them again. “What’s wrong, do you know?”

  
“We both blamed the leftover Chinese food we had for dinner, but it’s been hours since Liz threw everything up, and she still feels awful.”

  
“Hm, well. If it wasn’t the middle of summer, I might suggest that it’s some bug you picked up from Jenny via the school. Maybe she was standing too close to somebody on the streetcar?”

  
Daniel hummed with agreement, not really buying that either. “I don’t know. Well, either way, she’s going to stay home and rest today.”

  
“Yeah, no. I completely agree. I’ll tell Jenny and have her swing by to check on her later. One perk of knowing a teacher in the middle of summer is that they don’t have much to do!”

  
There was a faint “I heard that!” from Jenny in the background. Kevin chuckled. 

  
“Thanks,” Daniel said. “It would take a lot off of my mind if I knew that Jenny swung by to make sure that Liz hadn’t suffocated in her vomit while I was at work. I’ll try to call around lunch time, and if nobody picks up, then I will come back.”

* * *

Daniel was on edge the entire time he was at work. He managed to get a hold of Jenny at his and Daisy’s apartment during his lunch break, and Jenny reassured him that Daisy was up, and seemed to be doing slightly better. But the fact that she was that sick at all still had him worried. 

  
She was sitting on the sofa watching Fraiser reruns when he got home. 

  
“Hey.” He kissed the top of her head. “Feeling better?”

  
“A little. Jenny tried to make me some soup when she came by, but the smell nauseated me. It’s in the fridge if you want it.”

  
“I’ll reheat the soup for you,” Daniel said as he moved to the kitchen. “You should try to eat something. Or do you feel up for something else?”

  
Daisy paused for a moment. “Actually, you know what, I am really craving some McDonald’s fries right now.”

  
Daniel turned around with a raised eyebrow. “But you hate when those fries get cold.”

  
“Yes, so you’d better hurry back. Please, Daniel? I haven’t eaten anything but a few swallows of broth and a ton of water all day today.”

  
“Fine. But only because I’m worried about you. I’ll be back in a bit.”

* * *

Daniel bought a dollar menu burger for Daisy along with fries and a meal for himself while he was there. After Daisy devoured all of her fries and half of Daniel’s, she set into her burger with gusto. 

  
“Sorry that I ate most of your fries,” Daisy said a bit sheepishly as she finished off the burger. “I was suddenly insanely hungry for the first time all day.”

  
“Don’t apologize. I’m just glad that you’re feeling better. Do you want anything else?”

  
She thought about it for a moment. “Do we have any more of those Lucky Charms?”

* * *

Daniel was happy that Daisy was feeling better, and clearly on the mend again. After eating two bowls of Lucky Charms and one of Fruit Loops, she went to bed to try and catch up on her rest. 

  
Daniel didn’t want to disturb her too much, or to catch whatever she had if it was contagious. So he opted to sleep in what was now the guest room. 

  
But he woke up around 3 AM to the sound of Daisy dry-heaving in the bathroom. He hurried to her side. “Are you still sick? I had thought that you were on the mend.”

  
“Yeah, me too,” she said weakly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  
“It’s Saturday. It’s fine,” he said as he rubbed her back. “I’m going to try and make a doctor’s appointment for you. You clearly aren’t getting any better.”

“Daniel, I’m-” She broke off and coughed up more stomach bile into the toilet. She sighed heavily and leaned against the side of the shower-tub. “I just wish Jemma was here. She’d instantly know what was wrong with me.”

  
Daniel only sighed and sunk down onto the floor next to her. They kept having the same conversation over and over, holding onto the hope that Jemma, Deke, and Enoch were going to pop up at any second, and they could go back to saving the world. But the longer time passed, the less likely that it seemed. After all, if they had a time machine, surely Daisy and Daniel would have been picked up by now, right? 

  
He was tired of repeating the same thing. Especially now, when Daisy wasn’t feeling well. He didn’t want to get her hopes up that Jemma would show up and make Daisy better again. (Although, he would love it if she would. He was worried about Daisy.)  
“I know that this is a lot to ask, but could you swing by the 24-7 store really quick and get some soup crackers and ginger ale?”

  
“You think that it’ll help?”

  
“At this point, I’m willing to try just about anything.”

  
So Daniel slipped on his shoes, not bothering to get dressed. He probably wasn’t the only person to go into the shop on the corner at 3 AM in search of home remedies for the stomach flu. 

  
There was some sort of otherworldly thing about being in a shop in the middle of the night. The only other person in the store was the clerk. “Can I help you find anything?”

  
“My wife has a stomach bug,” he said. 

  
“Crackers are on aisle three. Sodas are in the back. Pharmacy is right up front here.” It was clearly not the first time the clerk had dealt with something like that. 

  
Daniel thanked the boy and went to collect the items. He also grabbed a box of Pepto, since it claimed to help settle upset stomach and ease nausea on the box. 

* * *

At a more reasonable hour that morning, they sat on hard plastic chairs in the local doctor’s office. Neither of them had had any reason to go see a doctor since they’d landed in the 90’s, so they’d gotten the number of the doctor Jenny went to. One of the doctors was able to squeeze Daisy in, since it seemed serious, which was something Daniel was grateful for.

  
“Elizabeth?” a nurse called. They both stood. “Are you the husband?”

  
“Yes. Can he come?”

  
“Of course. Right this way.”

  
They went to a room, where the nurse took Daisy’s vitals and then left them to wait for the doctor. 

  
Dr. Preston came in after a moment. “So Elizabeth, I hear that you’ve been having some stomach problems recently.” She flipped through Daisy’s chart. “It says in your file that you haven’t had a period in over three years. Why is that?”

  
“Oh, I have an implant,” Daisy said.

  
“An IUD?”

  
“Yes, that’s right.”

  
“I didn’t know that those things stopped periods, but okay.”

  
“It’s… British,” Daisy lied. “My friend is a doctor from the UK and she got me some off-the-market stuff.”

  
Dr. Preston raised an eyebrow over that and made a note in the file, but didn’t say anything. “Any other symptoms? Back pain? Cramping? Gas, bloating, constipation?”

  
“Ah, well… Now that you mention it, all of the above, actually.”

  
The doctor nodded and made another note in the file. “Lie back on the table, please.”

  
Daisy did as she was asked, and the doctor gently began to touch Daisy’s belly area. The doctor hummed slightly as she worked, noting the pain and discomfort clear on Daisy’s face when she pressed a little too hard. 

  
After a moment, Dr. Preston pulled back and made some more notes in her chart. “I’m going to have a nurse draw some blood for a quick test, and I’d like a urine sample, too.”

  
The nurse came in to draw a bit of blood, and then handed Daisy a pee cup. 

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Daisy was called back to the exam room, and Daniel went with her. 

  
“We did a preliminary urine test, and then ran the blood test through a couple of times just to be sure that we’d done it right the first time,” Dr. Preston said as she sat down. “But there is still one more thing that we’d like to do to be completely certain of the diagnosis. But Mrs. Carter, the tests came back and said that you’re pregnant.”

  
“Pregnant?” Daisy was glad that she was sitting down. “H-How is that even possible? I have an IUD.”

  
“They’re not infallible, Mrs. Carter. Or did your doctor friend not explain that to you?”

  
“No, she did. But she said that the chances of me getting pregnant with the IUD in were so slim that it was practically impossible.”

  
“Practically, but not zero. I would like to do an ultrasound, to see for certain. And maybe to guess at your gestational age, too. Your belly is starting to show signs of growth.”

  
Daisy looked down at her belly. “I just thought that I was getting fat,” she said with a sigh. “Too much fast food, not enough exercise.”

  
Dr. Preston chuckled slightly as she wrote something on her prescription pad. “I’m sending you upstairs to get an ultrasound. I’ve called ahead and they’re expecting you. Although you probably will have to fill out a few things.”

* * *

“A baby? We can’t have a baby,” Daisy hissed to Daniel as they sat in the waiting room of the ultrasound offices. “You said months ago that a baby would be hard to pack up.”

  
“I’m sorry, Daisy,” Daniel said as he hung his head. “This is all my fault. I should have gotten protection…”

  
“No, this is my fault,” Daisy said with a sigh. “I told you that it was safe with the IUD. Jemma had shared cautionary tales of women who had become pregnant while it was in them… But there weren’t that many of them. And thousands of other women never had anything bad happen to them with it implanted.”

  
Daniel sighed heavily and raked a hand through his hair. “What do you want to do? I’ll support you, no matter what you decide.”

  
“It’s your kid, you know. I know that abortion would make the situation go away, but I don’t want for you to resent me.”

  
“Maybe I have thought of having kids before. But the fact is that now is not the time to be having them. Plus, maybe this is progressive of me, but I do respect you immensely, Daisy. If you say that you want to get rid of the baby, I’ll still support you.”

  
Daisy was quiet for a moment, her head in her hands. “I just… I want for the technician to find nothing in there. It’s just… constipation. Gas. And food poisoning. The doctor will tell me not to eat week-old Chinese food in the future, and to keep hydrated.”

She pulled her hands away, and Daniel noted that they were shaking slightly. She clenched them. “But I know deep down that they’re going to find something. I’ve been having symptoms. The nausea didn’t just spring up the other day. It’s been lurking. My breasts have been tender, I have had an aching back, and I can’t stop peeing.”

  
“What, you have? Why didn’t you say anything?”

  
“Because I thought it was stress from everything that’s been happening! I thought that there was no way that it could have been anything else. After all, Jemma made that IUD. They’re supposed to be good. And I trust Jemma!”  
Before they could say anything else, the nurse called them back. 

  
They situated Daisy on the movable chair, and the technician spread cold goop all over her belly. As both Daisy and Daniel contemplated it, they simultaneously wondered how it was that they’d missed her growing bump. But like Daisy had said, her IUD was supposed to be good. It was clearly the result of too many burgers and not enough time spent sparring. 

  
“And there it is,” the technician said. “Would you like to see?”

  
Daisy didn’t answer, so Daniel did. “Y-Yes, please.”

  
The lady tipped the monitor so that it was facing them. Despite Daisy’s non-answer, she still turned to view the screen as well. A distinctive humanoid shape appeared in hazy gray-scale.

  
“Would you look at that,” Daniel whispered as a huge smile broke out over his face. 

  
“H-How old?” Daisy said quietly. 

  
“Um…” The technician did some stuff. “Judging by the size of the fetus, and the development, I’d estimate around… five months.”

  
“I’m sorry, did you just say months?!” Daisy said. The room vibrated a little, and Daniel put a calming hand on her shoulder. The room stilled, the technician none-the-wiser. 

  
“Five months?” Daniel repeated quietly. “That was around the time of the earthquake, wasn’t it?” 

  
Daisy counted back as well. “Y-Yeah,” she said. It had been around the time that they were on the road. “Shit.” 

  
“Would you like to know the gender?” 

  
“Yes,” Daniel said without hesitation. 

  
The technician tipped the screen back towards them and pointed to something. “It’s a girl.”

  
Daniel’s smile widened. “A girl?” 

* * *

“I just need to be alone right now, okay?” 

  
Daisy had said that over three hours ago. The second that they’d gotten back to the apartment, Daisy had said that and taken off. She’d half-expected for Daniel to call her back, but he hadn’t. She supposed that he knew that she had a lot to work through, and was going to give her that space. 

  
She huffed with irritation. Why in the world was Daniel so goddamned perfect? 

  
Daisy sat heavily on a nearby bench and pulled the slip of paper out from her pocket. The print out from her ultrasound. The baby. Her baby. Their baby. 

  
She gently ran her fingers down the flat face. She kind of wished that she was back in her time, when ultrasounds were so much clearer than this. She scoffed. What was she saying? She didn’t want a baby now or in 2020. 

  
“Who am I kidding?” she groaned as she let her head lull back. 

  
Daniel’s words played over in her mind. “But the fact is that now is not the time to be having them.”

  
But that’s how it went, wasn’t it? Now was never the time to be having kids. 

  
Daisy hadn’t exactly thought much about children. Or even getting married, to be honest. And now, she was in a fake marriage and five months pregnant. 

  
Her time was running out. If she wanted to have an abortion, she’d have to decide in the next couple of days, before the baby got much further along. 

  
She sighed heavily as she stared down at the ultrasound print-out again. “But the fact is that now is not the time to be having them.”

  
Daisy stood and shoved the picture back into her pocket. She then turned and started for home. 

* * *

Daniel was startled when the door burst open. Although his surprise quickly turned into a faint smile when Daisy strode in. 

  
“We should name her Margaret. We’ll call her Maggie, because nobody really uses the name Peggy anymore.”

  
“Wait, what? What made you change your mind?”

  
“Now is never a good time, and you keep putting it off and putting it off, and then it never happens.” Daisy rested her hand over her stomach. “But the problem is that now this is happening. I don’t want to have regrets of not living my life simply because we’re stuck in the 90’s. 1994 is a fine year to live in! We have Lisa Frank and Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman and I have enough hope in the medicine and science of this time not to completely kill me when I’m delivering her.”

  
Daniel strode across the room, cupped Daisy’s face, and kissed her tenderly. “I love you, Daisy. And I love our little Maggie even though we only just found out about her a couple of hours ago. I’d do anything for my two girls.”

  
Daisy blinked back tears, and told herself that it was just hormones. 

  
“But if I might ask… Why Margaret?”

  
“I’m sorry. Is that too much? I know that the two of you were… a thing.”

  
“We kissed a couple of times. I had a thing for her. Broke off an engagement because of her, although that was my own doing, and not Peggy’s. But there was always something else. And her star was rising, as the saying goes. She was always off doing something in New York, and I was out here. And then, out of the blue, she calls me up and says that she’s met somebody else. At that point, how could I possibly say that I was surprised? I hadn’t seen her in over a year. Of course there was somebody else. I was a fool for thinking that we could make anything work between us.” 

  
He sighed heavily and offered Daisy a wane smile. “Naming her after Peggy would make Peggy happy, I think. Peggy is a good role model, and inspiration for all of us. Maggie will be strong, too. Because her parents are strong. And so is everybody else in her life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoy this, please be sure to leave kudos and/or a review!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this is late; I don't really have any excuses. To make up for it, I'll go ahead and post the last chapter up right away, too!

“Jeez, it’s just difficult for me to wrap my mind around it,” Jenny said with a heavy sigh. “I had kind of hoped that Kevin and I would have a kid first.”

  
“It’s not exactly like James and I planned this,” Daisy said. She rested her hand over her distended belly. It was getting a lot harder for her to move around now, and she was grateful that Jenny had decided to invest in a car to help her get to work every morning. Taking the streetcar was too much at times as Daisy entered her final trimester of pregnancy. 

  
“Yeah, but looking at you and Jimmy, and I can’t say that I’m overly surprised. The two of you are so completely and utterly in love.” She scoffed. “You know, it’s funny. Because when we first met, I wasn’t sure that the two of you were even all that close. You didn’t embrace in public, or kiss, or even hold hands. But the more I watched you, the more I began to see tiny little signs all over the place. His eyes follow you where ever you go, you know that? You get up from the table to get a refill, and Jimmy won’t stop watching you until you get back.”

  
Daisy frowned slightly. She hadn’t known that, actually. 

  
“It’s only gotten worse since you found out that you were pregnant. It’s-”

  
“It’s like he’s hovering over me,” Daisy said with a sigh of her own. “I know. It’s driving me up the wall. It’s why I was so eager to come to the school with you today. I love him, but sometimes it’s just… Gah!” 

  
It had been sweet at first, the way that Daniel had doted upon Daisy following them finding out about the pregnancy. He waited on her hand-and-foot, willing to make more 3 AM store runs, to get her anything that she wanted. 

  
And at first, Daisy had lavished the attention. The foot rubs, the fresh produce he brought home, him saying up with her when the morning sickness got to be too bad. 

  
But now, it felt like he was slowly suffocating Daisy. Except that she couldn’t bring herself to tell him to stop. Because she knew that if their roles were reversed, and she was the anxious father-to-be, she’d be waiting on him hand-and-foot, too. 

  
Jenny thought that she was being clever, inviting Daisy to her school on Saturday “to help set up a classroom project”. Apparently, having been an agent for so many years helped Daisy to piece together the fact that Jenny had roped several of her co-workers that Daisy already knew into having a baby shower. 

  
Truthfully, Daisy did feel more than a little weird about the entire thing. She’d never really imagined herself getting pregnant, and thus, hadn’t really imagined ever having a baby shower before. 

  
But if she did, she wouldn’t have wanted all of her own friends there. And for Jemma to host the event. 

  
So for a bunch of near-strangers to want to throw Daisy a shower… It honestly brought a couple of tears to Daisy’s eye. Ones that she was quick to brush away, and to blame on those stupid pregnancy hormones. 

  
The parking lot was empty except for one other car. However, since the school was nestled in a neighborhood, it was possible that the others had parked by the houses. Nobody would think twice of a couple extra cars on their block. 

  
Jenny used her key to let them in. “We should work in the library,” she said as she gestured. “Give us more room to spread out. Let’s go get you situated there, and then I’ll run to my classroom to pick up the things.”

  
As they passed the alarm system on the wall, Daisy couldn’t help but note that it had been turned off. Well, there was one other car in the parking lot, so it wasn’t like there couldn’t be another teacher in the building.

  
The library was dark as they approached, and Daisy spied some balloons through a window briefly as they passed it. Yep, definitely a surprise baby shower.

  
Jenny opened the door, and somebody flicked the lights on. “Surprise!” maybe a dozen or so other women cried out. 

  
“Aw, you guys,” Daisy said with a genuine smile on her face. There was a hand-made banner put up above the reference desk that said “Baby Carter”, and a couple bundles of green and yellow balloons. 

  
Daniel and Daisy had decided to wait until Maggie was actually born before they told everybody the name. They were still holding onto the hope that the others would come. And some weird part of them thought that telling everybody the sex of their baby and the name that they’d decided on would somehow prevent the others from rescuing them in the 90’s. 

* * *

  
Daisy had only been to a handful of baby showers in her life. Without an actual family, she never felt any obligation to go to her latest foster mother’s friend’s showers. And being a SHIELD agent didn’t exactly leave a lot of leeway for having kids; those who had them usually left field work, if not SHIELD completely. 

  
But as far as baby showers went, this one wasn’t horrible. Daisy only knew Jenny’s co-workers from a couple of events Jenny had dragged her and Daniel to. And even then, she wouldn’t exactly call them friends. 

  
But as she unwrapped onesies and nursing bras, and the ladies gushed over how cute everything was, it filled Daisy in with an ache. She wanted to be doing this with Jemma and Elena and May and Piper. Maybe even the boys, because she’d heard that inviting the daddy-to-be was becoming more standard in the 21st century. 

  
However, Daisy couldn’t help but feel loved. These women barely even knew her, but they still came together to offer up baby things and some of their time on a Saturday. 

  
“Lizzy, there’s a few more things that we all pitched in to get for you guys,” Jenny said once all of the presents had been opened. “But they were really big, and we were worried about carting them to the school, and then taking them back to your apartment.”

  
“You didn’t,” Daisy said. She thought that she’d figured everything out, but apparently, Daniel had been keeping secrets from her if there was something stashed away at the apartment. 

  
“Come on,” Jenny said. She helped Daisy to stand— and it was help that was needed, this late in her pregnancy— and they walked out to the parking lot. Daisy had been right: the other ladies had parked in the surrounding neighborhood. Although a couple of those late to the shower had opted to go for the parking lot instead. 

  
As Jenny parked the car in front of the apartment building, Daisy wondered how everybody was going to fit in the apartment. The place always seemed too cramped whenever Jenny and Kevin came over for dinner. Having all of those people inside was going to be like a clown car. 

  
Jenny and Daisy led the way, with several of the others following them. Daisy was happy that not everybody had come over, and could only hope that they weren’t expecting to stay for longer than it took to see Daisy’s reaction to whatever they’d given her.   
Daisy was surprised when Jenny knocked on the door, and even more surprised that Kevin answered. 

  
“Come in,” he said and gestured them in. “Did you have a nice time at the shower?”

  
“Yes, it was lovely,” Jenny said. 

  
Daniel came out of the spare room, and Daisy got a glimpse of a fully assembled crib in there. “We would have put together the high chair, but it took us just this long to put the crib together.”

  
“Ah honey, you won’t need the high chair right away anyway,” one of the other teachers said. 

  
“You guys,” Daisy said for probably the millionth time that day. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to properly thank all of you.”

  
“We’re just happy to step up when Jenny said that you were pregnant, and barely had anything. And that you didn’t have a whole lot of friends out here, either.”

  
One by one, those who had come to the apartment stepped inside to drop off the presents Daisy had been given. They offered Daisy warm hugs, and Daniel as well. And then they left, much to Daisy’s relief. 

  
“Well,” Jenny said once it was just the four of them in the apartment. “We should get out of your hair, then. I’m sure that today’s excitement has worn you out, Lizzy. Call if you need anything!”

  
“Thanks. And thank you again for putting this shower together.”

  
Jenny and Kevin left, and Daisy turned to Daniel. He was looking through the piles of cloth diapers and baby bottles that had been piled on the kitchen counter and table. 

  
“This is a lot of stuff,” he said. “Just when I think that I’m finally getting a handle on this future stuff, and then it’s all ‘have a two-way radio for your baby, Daniel’.”

  
“Whoo-boy, Danny-boy,” Daisy said. She shoved things off from the sofa and sat down heavily. “Wait until you see how they do things in 2020.”

  
He looked to her, startled. “Why? How do they do it?”

“With video cameras that you can watch from anywhere.” Daisy paused. “Also, weren’t they using portable radios in your time? They probably had baby monitors in the 50’s. I need to remember to look it up.”

  
“Not like I had a whole lot of use for a baby monitor,” Daniel said. He knelt down on the ground before Daisy and pressed a kiss to her belly. “And how’s little Maggie doing?”

  
“She really seemed to like the cake. Mommy liked it, too. I think that somebody brought some of it over.”

  
“Yeah, I saw it.” He stood, his eyes never leaving Daisy. “Are you tired? Do you want to take a nap?”

  
“That would be amazing, actually. A bath, and then bed.” She accepted Daniel’s hand up. “Ugh, I miss being able to shower.”

  
“Not after what happened last month.”

  
“You don’t have to keep reminding me. My heart is still racing thinking about it.” She rubbed her belly. “Soon, though. Maggie is less than a month away. Really looking forward to not being the size of a house.”

  
“Yes, but a sexy house.”

  
“Actually… You know what. Add a third point to that list.” She leaned in and pecked Daniel’s lips. “These pregnancy hormones have me horny like crazy.” She paused. “But after my bath and nap.”

* * *

  
Daniel was awoken to the apartment shaking. He bolted upright in bed, his mind flashing back to that horrible day in March with the earthquake then. 

  
Only now, his attention was almost immediately drawn to the woman beside him. Her chest was heaving slightly, and she was clutching her belly like a life-line. 

  
“Daisy?” he said as he threw the blankets back and started to get out of bed. 

  
“Having contractions,” she panted out. “I didn’t want to wake you, since I’ve been having a lot of false ones recently. Only…” She trailed off, her meaning clear. These ones were not going away. This was not false labor, but the actual thing. 

  
“Can’t you stop quaking everything?”

  
“I can’t!” Daisy cried out. The building rocked again, and Daniel knew that she was riding another contraction. 

  
“Shit,” Daniel said as he raked a hand through his hair. “Hang on, I’ll get the hospital go-bags.” The fact that they had to classify which go-bag didn’t exactly make him feel any better. There was still the ever-present threat of the Chronicons and Malick out there. Maybe the idea of having a baby was actually a bad idea. 

  
Too late to think about that now, though. This baby was coming, no matter what either of them wanted. 

  
Both bags slung over his shoulder, Daniel helped Daisy from the apartment. Jenny had agreed to loan them her car indefinitely as Daisy’s due date got closer, so that they wouldn’t have to mess with getting a taxi to the hospital. Daniel hadn’t thought too much about it, but he was grateful that they didn’t have to wait around for a taxi to show up. There was already quite the commotion in the area as people were awoken from Daisy’s increasingly powerful quakes.

  
It was bad enough driving the streets as Daisy rode contraction after contraction. The car wouldn’t stop shaking. 

  
Thankfully, the hospital wasn’t too far, and since it was the middle of the night, there wasn’t that much traffic like if she’d gone into labor in the middle of the afternoon. 

  
The hospital staff at the maternity ward looked alarmed as Daisy’s rolling earthquake began to hit them. However, they were trained professionals, and a couple of nurses quickly jumped into action. One of them brought a wheelchair over, while another one tried to page their obstetrician. 

  
“Jeez, what is this earthquake? It’s going on forever,” the nurse said as she and Daniel helped move Daisy to the bed. 

  
Daniel said nothing; it was in their opinion that the less people who knew about Daisy’s powers, the better. And Daisy herself was in no mood to be spilling her secrets; it seemed all she could do was to just remember to breathe. Daisy had asked to have an epidural, and they had hoped that the strong medication would help curb any possible quaking that might happen during the labor. 

  
“Alright,” the nurse said after she’d checked Daisy’s cervix. “You’re about five centimeters right now.”

  
“Is that good?”

  
“She needs to be at about ten before we can start pushing.”

  
“Give me the meds,” Daisy groaned out as she clutched at the nurse’s hand. The nurse nodded simply before she turned and left the room. 

* * *

Some time later, the epidural had kicked in. And Daisy was still quaking a bit with each contraction, but it wasn’t nearly half as bad as it had been without the medication. Daniel had slipped away while the nurse was checking Daisy again and he called Jenny and Kevin to let them know that they were at the hospital. 

  
“Lizzy!” Jenny said as she burst into the room. She swayed a little as another contraction-quake hit. “Whoo! The California plate is a bit unsteady tonight, isn’t it?”

  
Daisy was quiet aside from low grunts. She tightly squeezed the safety bars on the bed until the contraction was over. She released the metal and panted heavily for a moment. 

  
“Where’s Kevin?” she asked her friend.

  
“He’s in the waiting room,” Jenny said. She turned to Daniel. “You could probably go sit with him if you’d like.”

  
“I’m good,” he said quietly. “I want to be with Liz right now.” The fact that he was even allowed in the delivery room at all was honestly kind of mind-blowing to him. In his own time, he would have likely been smoking a congratulatory cigar with Kevin right about now. 

* * *

The room was a near non-stop revolving door of nurses. An hour after they’d arrived at the hospital, the obstetrician rolled in long enough to check Daisy’s cervix before she vanished again. 

  
“I swear, nobody has ever paid so much attention to my vagina before,” Daisy said with a weak laugh. 

  
“It’s kind of a big deal right now,” Jenny said with a faint smile. 

  
The door opened and yet another nurse poked her head in. “How are we doing in here?” She grabbed the chart and looked down at it. “Elizabeth.”

  
“The nurse was here not even five minutes ago,” Daisy said. “Six centimeters.”

  
“Great, great.” The nurse looked around the room before she caught Daniel’s eye. “Are you Mr. Carter, then?” He nodded with agreement. “Might I have a word with you outside?”

  
“Go,” Daisy said. “Jen will keep me…” She gasped and rode through another contraction. 

  
The nurse smiled faintly at Daniel. He nodded again and went out into the hall. 

  
“Are you aware that your wife seems to be causing these earthquakes?” the nurse said in the softest voice possible once they were alone. Daniel narrowed his eyes at her. The nurse held up her hands. “I don’t care about Elizabeth’s powers. All I care about is stopping those earthquakes before the entire hospital shakes apart.”

  
“How did you know that it was a person?”

  
“She’s hardly the first powered person that I’ve run across,” the nurse said with a frown. “Although she’s probably one of the more powerful ones.”

  
“Are you, then? Powered, I mean.”

  
“Healing touch,” she said with a wiggle of her fingers. “My patients tend to be discharged a lot faster than any others. Nobody really knows why, but they’ve never put two and two together to come up with me.”

  
Daniel ran a hand through his hair. “The labor is making her lose control over her powers,” Daniel said finally. “The epidural helped some, but-”

  
“But stopping the labor would stop the shaking.” She looked around for a moment. “We usually don’t perform c-sections unless it’s absolutely necessary for mother and baby. But in this case, I’d say that this is necessary for the entire hospital.”

  
“Is it dangerous? What are the risks?”

  
“Please, Mr. Carter. This is a routine procedure for all of us,” the said as she put a gentle hand on his elbow. “We are trained professionals. I will not allow your wife or baby to die on the table.” 

  
Daniel wanted to ask how she would convince the doctors to perform the c-section, but decided that it was probably better not to know. He finally nodded. “I know that she isn’t going to like it, but I think that you’re right. It’s better to get this over with right now, and stop the quaking before somebody gets seriously hurt.”

  
“I knew that you would agree. Now go in and be with your wife while I get the team together.” She turned and ran off. 

  
“Send Jenny away,” Daniel whispered into Daisy’s ear. 

  
She nodded slightly. “Jen, could you do me a favor? Could you run down to the vending machine and get some sprite? I need something sweet, and labor is thirsty work.”

  
Jenny nodded as she grabbed her purse. “Sure thing, honey. I’ll be right back!”

  
The second she was out the door, Daniel turned to Daisy. “That nurse has some sort of healing power. She knew that it was you doing this. We’ve agreed that it would be best if they did a c-section just to stop the quaking.”

  
Daisy hadn’t exactly been looking calm since they got to the hospital, but now she looked absolutely horrified. “I’m scared,” she whispered. Daniel clasped her hand, and gently pressed a kiss to the top of her knuckles. 

  
“It’s going to be okay, Daisy,” he whispered. 

  
Within minutes, nurses swarmed into the room. One of them changed the IV in Daisy, while another got the bed ready to be wheeled away. “Please don’t worry, Liz,” the doctor said. “We’re simply worried about you and the baby, so we’re going to perform a c-section. We’re going to fully knock you out for this, and when you wake up, your beautiful angel will be here with you.”

  
Again, Daniel wondered what the nurse had told the doctor to convince her to do the surgery. But decided that it was probably best not to ask. 

  
The doctor made eye-contact with Daniel. “Of course you’ll be coming too, if you want, Mr. Carter. Nurse Wood will help you scrub in.”

  
Daniel was surprised about that. Not only was he permitted in the labor room, but he was also being included in the c-section surgery room? 

  
The next couple of minutes were a wild blur of activity. Daniel was vaguely aware of Jenny standing in the hall holding a can of soda, with a horrified look on her face as she watched Daisy being wheeled away. But he didn’t have time to think about her right now. 

  
A nurse helped Daniel get scrubbed in, and a couple of them helped him to put on the surgical gown, gloves, mask, and even a cap to cover his hair. 

  
By the time that he got into the room, Daisy was apparently knocked out. For the first time since Daniel had been awoken a couple of hours earlier, the world was oddly still. It was a lot like being at sea for a long time, and then coming back onto land: Daniel needed to remember how to be balanced when the entire world wasn’t shaking. 

  
Daniel didn’t understand most of what was going on. Their doctor barked out orders and was handed things. Daniel largely just felt like he was in the way. But then again, that had been most of what he felt like since the moment that the SHIELD agents had brought him onto the Zephyr. 

  
After several tense moments of the medical staff working, and the awful stillness of Daisy, the doctor extracted the baby from Daisy. “It’s a girl!” she announced. 

  
“Would you like to cut the cord, Mr. Carter?” somebody asked, and pressed a pair of scissors into Daniel’s hand. Daniel was urged forward, and he sliced into the umbilical cord where the nurse indicated. 

  
Somebody then swept the baby away, and a second later, her first cries rang out in the room. 

  
“November 17th, at 5:21 AM,” a nurse said. She smiled at Daniel.

  
“Wait a second, she’s holding something,” somebody said. Daniel turned towards where they were with the baby, and was surprised when the nurse held up a tiny metal thing. If it hadn’t come from inside of Daisy, Daniel might have guessed that it was some sort of fishing hook. 

  
“Her IUD,” the doctor said with a frown. “Although I’ve never seen one like that before.”

  
“She said her doctor friend invented it,” Daniel explained. “From the UK.” They all acted like that explained everything. “Can we keep it? Liz will want to have it to show to her friend the next time we see her.”

  
“I’ll have it cleaned and give it to her when she wakes up.”

  
“Have you thought of a name?” somebody else asked. 

  
“Maggie. Margaret Melinda Carter.” 

* * *

Later, after tests and a bath, Daniel cradled Maggie in his arms. He was in Daisy’s hospital room, although she was still out from the c-section. However, Nurse Wood was confident that Daisy would be awake soon, so Daniel wasn’t too worried about her right now. 

  
Instead, his sole focus was on the tiny baby in his arms. He couldn’t stop staring at her. As if he would dare to take his eyes off from her for a second, the world would banish her from existence. 

  
Every man that Daniel knew who had kids had always talked about the moment that they were first presented with their newborn. They had talked about this instant love, step in front of a bullet, stop an oncoming train sort of thing.

  
Daniel had always kind of thought that they were full of it. 

  
But now, as he held Maggie, as he gently rocked her, as he cradled her tiny body… He understood. 

  
She made him want to rush out and singlehandedly stop every little bad thing in the world. He didn’t want Maggie to grow up knowing the fear like he and Daisy had experienced the night of that earthquake. He didn’t want her to be used as leverage against him. And especially not Daisy. 

  
Maggie shifted slightly in her sleep, her mouth opening in a quiet yawn before she settled back into her dreams. 

  
Daniel pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. 

  
Maggie was worth dying for. 

* * *

When Daisy awoke, the first thing she noticed was that she felt different. Lighter. 

  
She fought through the fog of the drugs and remembered. The c-section. 

  
Maggie. 

  
But it was one thing to remember that, and a whole other issue to convince her body to go along with her orders right now. 

  
She must have made some small noise or something, because a moment later, she heard Jenny’s voice. “Hey, you’re awake. I’ll go get the nurse.”

  
Daisy forced her overly-heavy eyelids to open, and she looked around the room. It was dark, only lit by the sun through the thick curtains. Daniel was asleep in a chair in the corner, and there was one of those plastic baby baskets beside him. 

  
When the nurse came in to check on Daisy, Daniel woke up. He moved to stand by Daisy’s bedside. 

  
“You shouldn’t have been awake for another couple of hours,” the nurse said. “But everything looks good. We are going to keep you overnight for observation, since you did have a surgery. Now then, are you ready to meet Maggie?”

  
She walked over to the basket and gently grabbed what seemed to be a bundle of cloth from it. The bundle moved slightly, although was unable to break free from the wrapped blanket. 

  
The nurse pressed the baby into Daisy’s arms, and showed her how to hold Maggie properly. 

  
It was all Daisy could do to blink back the tears from her eyes. “Maggie,” she whispered as she ran a hand down the soft, tiny cheek. 

  
There was a faint knock on the door before it opened. Nurse Woods poked her head in. 

  
“Ah, I heard that Mrs. Carter was awake now,” she said as she came in. “I’m just off shift now, but I wanted to give you this, upon your husband’s request.” She held the IUD between her thumb and forefinger. “Maggie was born clutching it. James asked if it could be given back.” She chuckled slightly. “Quite the conversation starter, if you ask me. And a funny story to tell Maggie when she’s older.”

  
Daisy gave a wet laugh and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Yes. Jemma will laugh herself silly over the entire thing, I think. I can’t wait until she meets her honorary niece.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed this! Please don't forget to leave kudos and/or a review!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the last chapter of this!

“Daisy should be in… this building.” 

  
Jemma and Enoch stopped in front of one building in particular and looked up. There were four stories, and judging by the size of the building, there were probably a couple of units on each floor. 

  
“Well, only one way to find them,” Enoch said after a beat. He walked up the steps, and opened the door for Jemma. 

  
The lobby was the kind of place that was trying to pretend like the apartment building was fancy, but in reality, it was probably the 99 cent store of apartments. There was a wilting plant in the corner, peeling and cracked wallpaper, threadbare carpet, and water-stained ceilings. 

  
“Look, they list residents on the mailboxes,” Enoch pointed out. He and Jemma walked over, and looked over the small cubbyholes for any sign that Daisy or Daniel called this place home. 

  
“Here,” Jemma said as she pointed to one name in particular. All it said was “Carter”. 

  
Enoch raised an eyebrow at Jemma. “You think that they’ve assumed false names? That Daniel took on the name of his former girlfriend, Peggy Carter?”

  
“Oh, I know that they did,” Jemma said. “Here, apartment 3C. Let’s go.”

  
The two of them walked up the third floor and quickly located apartment C. Jemma raised her hand to knock on the door when she heard a familiar voice inside. 

  
“All I’m saying is that we’d just have to move the coffee table and put in one of those cheap kiddie pools. It would be so relaxing on a hot summer day like today.” It was Daisy; Jemma would recognize that voice anywhere. 

  
She knocked, cutting off Daniel’s reply about the landlord and their deposit. 

  
Daisy opened the door, her face going from curious to elated. She flung herself at Jemma with an excited yell. The other girl clung to her friend tightly. 

  
“We were seriously starting to worry that we’d never see you again!” Daisy said once she pulled away. 

  
“How long have you been here, Agent Johnson?” 

  
“A little under two years now,” Daisy said as she turned into the apartment. “Come on in, guys. We’re going to need to pack everything up and explain to our friends here that we’ll be leaving.” She snorted. “I don’t want to come back to 2020 and find a true crime episode about our disappearance.” 

  
“Jeez, I’m sorry, Daisy. Something went wrong with the… You know what, it’s complicated. But something happened, and we were all separated. It took us ages to track everybody down. Found Coulson and May hanging out in the late 80’s. Mack and Yo-Yo were in the late 90’s. Thankfully, the three of us landed in the aughts, so all we really needed was the time to put together a fix for the Zephyr.”

  
“Wait, why were we the last that you picked up?” Daisy said with irritation. 

  
“As Jemma just explained, it was difficult trying to find everybody,” Enoch said. “Mack and Yo-Yo were smart enough to try and leave messages over places where the team might possibly be, so we were able to find them first. And when we started searching in time, we picked up when we last were: in the 80’s. In the meantime, we’ve been skipping from year to year and pausing to look for your tracker signal, Agent Johnson.”

  
Daisy sighed with frustration. “It’s fine, but I’m warning you that leaving us stranded here had some… uh… consequences.” 

  
“Consequences?” Jemma said slowly. She looked between Daisy and Daniel for a moment with confusion. 

  
“Can you go get the consequence?” Daisy asked Daniel. 

  
Daniel chuckled slightly as he moved to the other room. As he went inside, Enoch had a better look in through the open door than Jemma did. 

  
“Oh,” he said quietly. “I see. This is indeed a dire consequence.”

  
“Huh?” 

  
Daniel came out a moment later with a baby. Jemma gasped as she took Maggie in. “Uh… that is… uh… not a newborn.”

  
“December 17th,” Daisy said. “I had one hell of a time in labor.” She shot Jemma a look. “You know how I get… in the bedroom. Now quadruple that and make it go on for hours and hours. That was what it was like.” 

  
“But what about-”

  
“My IUD?” Daisy said. She went into the master bedroom and came out with it between her forefinger and thumb. “Daniel said that Maggie was pulled out clutching it.”

  
“Oh Daisy, I’m so sorry,” Jemma said in a rush. 

  
“You know what, it’s fine,” Daisy said as she held up a hand to stop Jemma. “I was really angry when the doctors told me at first. I had a lot that I wanted to say to you. I will admit that I did heavily contemplate getting an abortion. I know that it would make our lives a lot easier if the problem just… went away. But something stopped me from doing that, and we decided to go ahead and have the baby. In the end…” She trailed off and turned to offer a loving smile to Daniel and Maggie. “Maggie answered something inside of me that I didn’t know that I’d been searching for my entire life.”

  
“That’s really sweet Daisy, but what are we going to do with her?” Jemma said. “The Zephyr isn’t exactly baby-proofed. And you know that we’re likely to fall under fire at some point or another. Or lord knows what might happen down the road.”  
“I’ll stay in the 90’s with her,” Daniel said. “I have a pretty steady job-”

  
“Daniel, no,” Daisy said loudly. “I won’t let you turn into a single dad if something happens to us. I don’t know that I’d be able to live with myself if I just left Maggie behind like that.”

  
Enoch had been fairly quiet during the entire exchange. “If I might interrupt, but I might have a solution of what to do with baby Maggie. However, I cannot discuss it with any of you right now.”

  
“Huh? How am I supposed to trust you if you won’t say where you’re going to take my baby.”

  
Jemma looked to Enoch with confusion. “If Enoch says that he has a place to put her, then I trust him. Do you trust me, even after my IUD failed you, Daisy?”

  
Daisy sighed heavily. “Yes, I suppose.” 

  
Enoch walked over to Daniel and Maggie, and reached for the baby. Maggie in turn smiled and reached for him. 

  
“She’s a people person, I can tell,” Jemma said with a faint smile. 

  
“Yeah,” Daisy agreed with a sigh. “We had a hard time putting her down when she was born. She’s insanely spoiled.” She moved to go into the nursery. “I’ll pack up some of her things. How long do you think that you’ll be gone?”

  
“If everything goes well, then the two of you should be reunited with Maggie in a couple of hours of her time. In our time, who knows how long that it will be. But I assure you that you needn’t pack much for her right now.” 

  
“Daniel, could you start packing up?” Daisy called from the nursery. “And then we need to call Jen and Kevin. How much time do we have?”

  
“You should have a couple of hours to get ready, while I go and situate Maggie,” Enoch said. He accepted the baby bag Daisy offered him. “Very well then. I will see you shortly.” 

* * *

  
As the three of them walked over to Jenny’s and Kevin’s apartment, Daisy and Daniel tried to figure out how they would tell their friends that they needed to leave.

  
But when they knocked on the door, Daisy blurted out “This is my sister and we need to leave.”

  
“Huh?” Jenny looked between the three of them. “Lizzy? This is your sister?”

  
“Does this have anything to do with that trip you took a year ago?” Kevin said from behind his wife. He had a sour look on his face. 

  
“Sort of?” Daisy said with a shrug. “It’s hard to explain, and I can’t really tell you everything right now. But we just wanted to say goodbye, least you think that something had happened to us.”

  
Jenny nodded slightly, but Kevin only continued to frown at them. 

  
“I can tell that you’ve got something to say, so you might as well spit it out,” Daniel said. 

  
“I thought that we could trust you,” Kevin said finally. “I tried to do a background search on you guys. Especially because the way that you just kind of showed up seemed suspicious. But every single person that I reached out to said that there was no info on either of you existing before September 1993.” 

  
“What? Why would you do that?” Jenny said as she wheeled around to face her husband. 

  
“It weirded me out how they just kind of left abruptly a year ago,” Kevin said. “They were always acting so suspicious. I was in business with Lizzy, and I didn’t want to get mixed up with them, if they ended up being trouble, okay?”

  
Daisy looked to Jemma. “I’m going to tell them.”

  
“If Mack or Coulson were here, they’d stop you,” Jemma said. “But I’m not either of them.”

  
“We’re time travelers,” Daisy said. “From the year 2020. We came back in time to stop some robot alien race from changing the timeline to destroy humanity so that they could take our planet following the destruction of their own.”

  
“You know what, I liked it better when I thought that you were criminals,” Kevin said with a frown. “Get out.”

  
“Kevin…?” Jenny said with a wounded look on her face. 

  
“Nope, I think that it’s about time that we left now anyway,” Daisy said as she turned to go. “I wanted to say goodbye, but I didn’t think that it was going to end like this.” They turned to go. The door slammed behind them, and they all winced a little.

  
They were halfway down the stairs when somebody called out to them. “Lizzy, Jimmy. Wait.” It was Jenny, on the floor above. They stopped on the landing and waited for her to catch up. 

  
“I’m sorry,” Daisy said quietly. “We came to say goodbye to you guys because you were important to us while we were stuck here. We didn’t mean to get between you and Kevin.”

  
“It’s… I mean, it’s not fine, but I think that it honestly answered some weird questions that I’ve been feeling ever since we moved out here. San Fransisco has changed us… For better, or for worse.”

  
“I would just hate to be the reason why the two of you ended up getting a divorce,” Daniel said. 

  
Jenny snorted. “Trust me, Jimmy: if we get a divorce, it would be over a lot more than just two people we once met.” 

  
“Since we’re laying all of our cards on the table right now, I have to tell you that my name isn’t James Carter; it’s Daniel Sousa.”

  
“And I’m Daisy Johnson.”

  
“I knew that you didn’t feel like a Lizzy,” Jenny said with a grin. “And I knew that it was weird that you were named after US President Jimmy Carter.”

  
“I actually would have been born before he was in office,” Daniel said. 

  
“It was just the first name that popped into my head,” Daisy said with a shake of her head. “I don’t know if or when we’ll be able to meet again down the road. But please try to forget about us.”

  
Jenny pulled Daisy in for a hug. “I don’t know who or what you are, but you’re still my friend. Good luck with whatever your… future might hold for you.”

  
“Thanks for being so understanding. And thank you for being our friend, too.” 

  
With that, the three of them turned and ran off. 

* * *

  
“It’s been so long since I was back in the field,” Daniel said with some hesitation. The cabin of Zephyr Two was unnaturally quiet as they drifted towards the Chromicon ships. Daisy was asleep in the back on the ground. Or at least, Daniel assumed that she was, since she was being so quiet. 

  
“Yeah,” Mack agreed with a heavy sigh. “Listen, Danny-boy-”

  
“Look, I know, okay? You’ll hurt me if I hurt Daisy. I messed up. Big time. But I wouldn’t take any of it back in a heartbeat. Daisy and I went from complete and utter strangers to pretending to be married in order to just get by for a moment. The next thing I know…” He trailed off and offered Mack a “what can you do” look. “Daisy kept assuring me over and over that lots of people in her time do everything backwards from what I’m used to. They move in together, they have a kid, and then they decide after a while to get married. But still. The first thing that I’m going to do once we get back is pick out a nice ring for her. Maybe we’ll go to the Golden Gate Bridge and I can properly propose to her.”

  
Mack chuckled slightly. “That’s honestly so sweet, I think I might be sick.”

  
Both men turned their attention to the ships in front of them. “I have to keep thinking about things like that after we left the 90’s,” Daniel said with a heavy sigh. “Or else I don’t know how it is that I’m going to make it through any of this. I need to see my baby again, you know? I don’t know where Enoch stashed her, and the fear of what might happen to her if anything happens to Daisy or myself has been eating us alive.”

  
“Then we’d better make sure that both of you survive, then.”

* * *

  
“You mean to tell me that we’ve been guarding this thing for nothing?” Piper said with a whine. 

  
Jemma assured her that it hadn’t been for nothing, and they walked around to the back, where there was a second door. As Jemma opened it, she already had a feeling that she’d know exactly what was behind the door. 

  
Something so precious, Jemma didn’t even know how in the world that she could forget about her. 

  
“Alya,” Jemma breathed as the little girl stirred and eventually ran to her mother. 

  
“Uh… Jemma?” Fitz said as he looked in the room. There was a small bed for Alya, but also a foldable baby pen, in which Maggie lay in. “Remember how a different Enoch suddenly appeared with that baby and said that there had been a slight change of plans?” 

  
“Yes,” Jemma agreed. She passed Alya off to her father, and stepped over the pen, where she carefully pulled Maggie out. “Daisy and Daniel were stranded in the 90’s for a while. This is their daughter.”

  
“I’m sorry, what.”

  
“I don’t know the full story myself; we were all a little busy with saving the world again. I think that it’s long overdue for all of us to sit down and have a long conversation. Especially about what Daisy and Daniel have been up to.”

  
Fitz looked down at Alya. “I think that they’ll want to know what we’ve been up to as well.” 

* * *

  
“And then that’s when I found out I was pregnant,” Daisy said. “It was a difficult decision to keep the baby. But after she was born, I don’t think that I have any regrets.”

  
“How can anybody possibly hate you, Maggie?” Coulson said as he bounced the little girl on his knee. Maggie gurgled happily and reached for her grandfather. “I don’t know how anybody could possibly live in a world without Maggie Sousa in it. No they cannot live. No they cannot!”

  
“Honestly, the weirdest part of us having kids now is Coulson interacting with them,” Jemma whispered to Daisy. The other woman nodded with agreement. 

  
“By the way guys, I just wanted to thank you again for helping Maggie get set up with her actual birth records,” Daniel said. 

  
“Sure, but her star chart is going to be all wonky,” Yo-Yo said with an easy grin. “She was born in 1994, but she spent the second year of her life living in 2020.”

  
“Oh, nonsense,” Jemma said. “Those things are rubbish and you know it.” They all laughed a little over that.

  
“So, I guess nobody’s going to say it, so it leaves me to do it,” Mack said after a long stretch of comfortable silence. The only noise was Alya watching Moana quietly in the background for the millionth time. “Jimmy and Liz Carter might have been married, but Daniel Sousa and Daisy Johnson are still not.”

  
“Speaking of which…” Daisy said. She pulled out a silver chain from under her shirt and showed them a modest engagement ring hanging off from it. 

  
“What? When did this happen?” Jemma said with surprise. 

  
“Last night,” Daniel said. “I wanted to do something big and splashy. Take Daisy out to San Fransisco to properly propose to her.” The couple exchanged a look and burst out laughing. 

  
“I proposed to him instead,” Daisy said with an easy grin. “We slipped out this morning and bought this.” She offered Daniel a love-sick smile. “Of course, I’m going to need a proper proposal from you now that you’ve mentioned it, Danny-boy. But we can honeymoon in San Fransisco.”

  
Daisy looked over to Coulson, who was still bouncing her daughter on his knee. He’d progressed to one-handed peek-a-boo with her now. “Coulson?”

  
“Hm?” He paused long enough to look over to her. 

  
“I know that you’re not the director of SHIELD anymore, but I would love it if you could marry us.”

  
“I’d be honored to, Daisy. Just name the time and place, and I’ll be there.”

  
Daisy pretended to think for a moment, and tapped her finger against her chin. “How’s tomorrow around 10 AM sound?”

  
“Wait, what? That’s not enough time for us to throw you a proper hen night, Daisy!” Jemma said sourly. 

  
“Yeah, come on, Quake!” Yo-Yo said. 

  
“Besides, maybe we need to take Danny-boy out for a spin, too,” Mack said with an easy chuckle. 

  
“Daisy and I were living as married for nearly two years,” Daniel said. “In my time, it would have been highly scandalous. Especially the fact that we had a child out of wedlock.”

  
“Yeah, but times are different now,” Jemma said. “Or hasn’t Daisy told you?”

  
“No, I did. On several occasions. But at this point, us saying ‘I do’ is just a legal formality. Plus, you guys kind of missed our first wedding. I want one that’s just for us, you know?”

  
“Wait, you guys had a fake wedding without us?”

  
“Well, we had to tell Jenny and Kevin something,” Daisy said with a heavy sigh. She looked over to Daniel. “I miss them. I’m honestly kind of sad that we went back to our original timeline. The Kevin and Jenny from this timeline never met strangers on the side of the road. They had a couple of kids, and they live in a suburb of San Fransisco now.”

  
“Maybe Deke will check up on them, like we asked him to do,” Jemma said with a frown. “I miss him.”

  
“Maybe we’ll see him again?” Fitz said as he laid a hand over Jemma’s. In unison, everybody turned to look over at Alya. The little girl was on her stomach in front of the TV, her feet kicking in the air. 

  
Jemma hummed with agreement slightly. “I’m honestly kind of hoping that he’ll put that big brain of his to work and he’ll figure out how to come back to this timeline.”

  
“Nah, he’s probably out there stealing songs that haven’t been written yet, and kicking ass with SHIELD,” Mack said with a chuckle. They all laughed over that, too.

  
“Ah well, enough about Deke and depressing things,” Yo-Yo said as she stood. “Let’s go to the bar or something to celebrate our girl Daisy getting married tomorrow!”

  
“Like the good grandparents that we are, we’ll stay and watch Maggie and Alya,” Coulson said. “May, it’s our first official act as grandparents.”

  
“Don’t call me grandmother,” May said in her usual flat voice. But when Coulson handed Maggie to her, and Maggie reached out with her chubby, baby fingers, May broke out into the biggest smile imaginable. “I want to be Wàipó.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to look up what Chinese people call their grandmother, and I think that that's the right term? May would totally want to be called something a little different. Even if it's just confusing for white people. She'd probably scoff and insist that she's not related to this child but the second that the person's back was turned, she'd start cooing at Maggie and offering to buy her "Baby's first handgun". ("May no!" "May yes!")  
> Edit: Thanks to janefanatic for helping me correct the term May would use!
> 
> I'm not quite sure that I'm finished with this quiet yet, but we'll see. I've still got some ideas bouncing around in my head. Maybe about Maggie in the future... Oh, but I have ideas about what her power would be. Ehehehehe. We'll see, though. 
> 
> I was also planning on writing a scene where Daisy and Daniel took Maggie to visit Kevin and Jenny, who had moved on with their lives. But that was before the finale happened, and kind of put a stop to that line of thinking, lol. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed this! Please don't forget to leave kudos and/or a review!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, please leave kudos and/or a review!


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